As the world of advertising changes, questions existing organizational frameworks and embraces Web 2.0, we are moving toward strategies based on meaningful and relevant brand experiences designed to viscerally connect with customers. Erik has coined the phrase "Acquisition Through Experience". Designing a holistic, experiential purchasing influencer is key to marketing success in the current climate. Neal, on the other hand (being wiser and yes, a bit older) continues to believe in the importance of brand, telling stories and utilizing the interactive character of Web 2.0.
The Hauser/Burns Report addresses all forms of advertising, marketing, selling - experiential in particular, and dissects issues currently facing those of us who are passionate about the field. We are keeping our eyes and thoughts firmly focused on the future so we can help anticipate the winds of change and bring them to your attention for discussion. We encourage your comments and look forward to hearing from you often! Don¹t make us ask twice.
You can't go 5 minutes without hearing somebody talking about the conversational marketplace. It's not that I don't agree, but I wonder if these folks can tell you what they really mean when they say it. So, you know me, I decided to ask a few folks.
My typical question is what does that mean? The typical response was it's a dialogue with the customers. Which, of course, makes me ask what does that mean? It's about engagement. Guess what my next question is. OK, but what does that mean?
These conversations could go on for days, but I have come to the simple realization that buzzwords rule the marketplace. They are fun to throw around I guess.
Let me chime in with my .02. I believe we are in a conversational marketplace in which the customers are more empowered than they ever were. We are in the midst of a marketing landscape where a great campaign's messages can and will have real value to the audience on any media. If there's value in it for them, they'll want to listen to what your brand has to say. You'll, dare I say, engage them. This is key because engage means not just to get someone's attention, but to hold it for a period of time. This allows the brand to form the essential brand/customer connection - the key to brand recall the holy grail of advertising. If you aren't doing something right then your campaigns are just noise in the ethos.
Where does this conversation with the customer begin? I like to say that every conversation with customers and potential customers starts with a proper introduction and a hello. Where does this hello happen? It can happen anywhere. That's the beauty of the conversational market. You want to start off on the right foot, but you really aren't sure where the audience is going to be introduced to your brand. This highlights the importance of anchoring all campaigns around one great theme/idea. This idea will manifest itself differently on every platform, but the message will be consistent on every media and therefore won't be brand schizophrenic.
The first introduction should invite the customer to participate and/or further explore the brand. This is where the conversation starts. Think of customers as friends. Think of your brand as a friend be nice, bring gifts, and show up often.
When you do this right you'll be able to have your conversations with your customers over coffee.;) You'll be that good of friends :)
Those that know me - know that I am a sneaker guy. I love cool kicks. No matter where I travel I try to find a unique pair of shoes. I love the independent shoe shops that get the limited pairs in all the colors that everyone usually deems heinous.
I can't recall off-hand, but there is a killer little shoe store in Lincoln Park, Chicago where I got my gold and orange Pumas. I knew a gem when I saw them - I bought what they had in my size. They are truly a rare find. During the shoe buying process my shopping partners usually look at me with utter dismay. The questions are usually the following:
Are you out of your mind? Are you really going to wear those? Why are you buying 4 pairs of the same shoe?
I chuckle at all of the questions and leave feeling like I've won the lottery. It's the feeling of finding a shoe that I would have designed myself - a brilliant feeling. A feeling that comes back to me every time I put them on.
The feeling of having found something that I would have, if I had the talent, created myself - hmmmmmmmmm.
Today I got the itch to shoe shop, but I had no desire to go to the store today. So, in typical fashion, I Googled custom sneakers. What I got was quite a surprise! I found tons of little shops along with all the usual suspects. I went to the K-swiss web site and they afforded me the experience of designing my own shoe. Not the exact shoe that I wanted, but a good enough whack at it to say I made these shoes. I think that at the very moment that I hit the purchase button - that very moment - K-Swiss synched up with brand me. K-swiss transcended their brand name. They allowed me to create my shoes by simply using their shoes as a starting point.
K-swiss offered me the experience of doing something that I've always wanted to do, but never really found the time. It took me a minute.
K-swiss's experience allowed me to create something I will connect with, and how could I not? I created it! And now I belong to K-swiss. Foot and sole.
A comment by Neal M. Burns Advertising Department The University of Texas at Austin
Looking at the cost for planning and executing an experiential campaign - as well as new media opportunities has stimulated discussion and concern about appropriate costs and benefits delivered. (It may be helpful in the discussion that follows to consider that at one time all media was new.) I wanted to talk - even re-visit some of our earlier discussion on this topic. It's a bit long - as Winston Churchill once said - with more time I could have made it shorter.
As those of us in advertising and marketing explore, begin to understand and use media and message processes generally called new or "alternative" - in that they are different than the traditional electronic, print and out-of home that have characterized the business for the past 125 years - we struggle to develop an appropriate analysis. What should serve as the metric that helps us compare advertiser's purchases in these new media with traditional media expenditures? And, which measures are simply cost indices and which are measures of effectiveness? In a profession in which decisions the past were built upon cost per thousand (CPT or CPM), cost per point (CPP) and the challenges of ROI and share fight what should the operative criteria for new media and experiential advertising expenditures be?
Understanding the importance disruptive media break-through can bring and the effectiveness it possesses in building brand trial and loyalty can be easily misunderstood because of comparisons to traditional media costs. Television (network, spot and cable) and radio (network and spot) advertising costs are typically measured in cpp (cost per rating point); newspaper and magazine advertising costs are more often measured in CPM (cost per thousand). Yet, at best these are cost indices rather than measures of effectiveness. In an era of audit and measurement, where clients demand that agencies produce evidence of a return on investment (ROI) for the dollars invested in reaching their desired audience, experiential campaigns excel in terms of what they deliver.
For new media - like the Internet , experiential brand encounters, events or in-place advertisement - the size of the universe from which to compute these indicia is a hotly debated question. Is it the number of people with computers and modems? Number of passers-by? Is the issue one of how many people have the possibility of seeing an ad in a retail establishment? Clearly, if one changes estimates of the size of these universes one also changes the cost index that results. Existing CPM indices vary, depending on audience delivered; print, for example, may vary from $5 to over $200 CPM depending on selectivity of audience and total circulation. Television now also has comparable pricing variation depending upon the selectivity of the audience attracted by content.
Leaders in the media planning and evaluation business recognize the importance of new media and appropriate evaluation. Recently, Initiative North America CEO Richard Beaven commented at the Advertising Week Conference on new media delivery that "Change isn't going to slow down." Starcom MediaVest executive Laura Desmond forecasts that soon perhaps 60% of clients' budgets will be set aside for what is now called "new media" (does that include experiential?) Equally important will be the impact on traditional media of the access that Google has given its advertising clients to determining the effectiveness of their ad plays. Being able to know if the intended audience has seen a message and determining if it is "working" has always been a major driver of media selection. In the absence of effectiveness measures cost indices served as a fall back basis for the plan. New media and new measures will quickly gain the participation of major advertisers and media buying organizations.
Existing media purchasing practices as well as the measures used to justify financial decisions simply no longer apply. Even the traditional annual plan and associated commitment is clearly an anachronism . The old rules are obsolete and universities, agencies and clients are all learning to adapt. As Jay Friedman has pointed out, "what seems organized and efficient for marketers does not necessarily line up with consumer media consumption or usage patterns. Think about planning a six-week flight for a soap brand? Personally, I use soap each and every day." In a digital world our inventory of ad space is easily expanded, production and insertion readily accomplished and both sales and traffic to the web site are increased.
Entertainment for entertainment's sake is just that Humor for humor's sake is just that Fear for fear's sake is just that Etc.. Etc......
Let's talk about beer.:0 How many times have you seen campaigns that you find absolutely hilarious, but when you go to tell your friends you can't remember which beer the ad was for? Surprisingly when people tell their friends about ads I find that including the brand is an essential part of the story!;) It is WOM at it's finest. WOM, to me, is an outcome of having a great product or service combined with a great marketing campaign.:) It falls after the equals sign in the marketing equation. It can't be bought.
How many times have you walked into an entertainment pavilion only to later forget what brand was responsible for it?
Connected meaning and relevance for all brand experiences on all canvases (medias) needs to be what the strategy is anchored around. It can't be experiential without it!
Don't get me wrong.....I think every great brand needs to have a wink in it. I like humor more than the next guy, but the trick is to make sure that your jokes have connected meaning and relevance to your brand. This is what will aid in brand recall while ensuring the differentiation that is also desperately needed. The ads give the customer a better sense of the brand while forming the essential brand-customer connection - experiential at it's finest.
OK - example time..then off to work I go.:)
Beer ads.....all funny...for the most part I couldn't tell you which brand told which joke. I can't recall a darn thing.
I think a perfect example would be the rock, paper, scissors beer ad that was on TV recently. I just Googled it so that I could tell you that it was a Bud ad. Do you think that the average consumer does that? HECK NO!
AS A MATTER OF FACT.....If that ad campaign had been done for Rolling Rock and they developed a campaign titled Can't beat the Rock, then I would be sitting here telling you that I thought it was pure genius. The rock would be without question tied back to the brand - connected meaning and relevance at its best! I would have been walking around the next day saying that Rolling Rock ad was hilarious etc., etc.... Instead I was just saying that ad with the rock.
A great example of a liquor brand properly activating its wink in the US is the Captain Morgan's campaign. All of the humor is, dare I say, captain specific. It couldn't activate the brand's wink any better, and I absolutely know who the ad is for......
Say this three times... Connecting meaning and relevance.;)
ROCK ON....off to work for me..Got any examples??????????????
***Please note that this is intended to be humorous, but offer insight into C3 (convenience, control and choice) ruling the marketplace!
As I write this post I am having to come to the silly realization that I, Erik Hauser, being of sound mind (kinda) and sound body have had a destructive and abusive relationship with IPODS for the last several years.
It all started out so innocently. The IPOD changed the way that I thought about how and where I could take my entire music collection. Over the years it completely changed the way that I consumed digital content. IPOD, in some sense, changed my life. I will always cherish the good times that we had. IPOD, it is safe to say, will be my first digital love. :)
In hindsight, I should have seen the signs early. Batteries were dying, and my first IPOD became unable to hold a charge in the battery It was time to move on - to IPOD generation II BABY!!!!!!! WOOOOHOOOOO!!!! It was slick, and brought my music back to me with promises of a 12 hour battery life. Therefore, I didn¹t even think twice about letting IPOD back into my life. :) The thought that I would be forced to go the gym without my IPOD was terrifying. All fears were put to rest with another $400.
Catastrophic disc failure wasn¹t too far ahead, and neither was my 3rd IPOD. I made sure to spring for a few extra bucks at Best Buy to purchase the replacement plan. The 3rd then became the 4th, 5th and finally the 6th IPOD. I was one of the lucky ones. Best Buy cancelled the replacement program only weeks after I had bought my 3rd IPOD. I can¹t believe that program lasted for that long.
It is safe to say that I am a huge music fan. I am also THE biggest fan of C3 when it comes to my music consumption. My car is a perfect example. I have everything right at my fingertips : Radio, DVD, CD, IPOD, Sirius etc. I can get what I want when I want it. It is the reason that I love to go for car rides.
Enter Saturday. I go to get on another flight and my IPOD once again dies while indicating that it has 1/2 of a battery life left. It was the beginning of the end. Instead of simply running out to the store to buy another one I paused. I paused first, and got very angry second. I thought to myself at what point in my life did I deem it acceptable to be forced to spend thousands of dollars over the years for what I now feel are disposable MP3 devices the love is gone. I will not buy another IPOD.
It is poetic that during the "break" in our relationship I ran across this news this morning. SIRIUS Satellite Radio Introduces the Stiletto 2, Taking Portable Audio Entertainment to the Next Level. Portable Stiletto 2 receives live SIRIUS Satellite Radio, SIRIUS Internet Radio and includes capabilities that surpass the leading MP3 players Enhanced WiFi capability, internal flash memory stores up to 100 hours of live SIRIUS programming, stores and manages MP3/WMA files. Removable flash card allows expanded memory.
This to me sounds more appealing, and offers more C3. Goodbye IPOD Hello Sirius Stiletto 2. My new digital love. The bigger question is. How many others consumers are ready to say ENOUGH!? Based on my conversations on the plane there are a lot, and that may signal the next digital revolution .
A comment by Neal M. Burns Advertising Department The University of Texas at Austin
Talk of a new advertising agency model is probably as dated as agencies themselves. A business that is, at its core, purposed to help other businesses succeed certainly changes as economies, values, distribution and technology change. Yet, this time seems different.
Without trying to re-write advertising agency history certainly the modifications - new agency models - instituted by Howard Gossage, William Bernbach and Jay Chiat stand out as having changed the operational philosophy and internal architecture of their peer groups at the time. Certainly the move from commission-based compensation to a professional fee structure represented a major departure from past practice. So, what will be the operating principles and the major shifts that define the new advertising agency? Here are a couple of the new organizing principles that I have noted in my recent travels and agency visits.
First, there is a shift from agency centric organizations to internal structures that are consumer or market centric. This means that the organization is not about a direct or PR or interactive division, but is rather about those that play in the outdoors or the agency having an unsurpassed understanding of the baby boomer cohort. Being recognized as knowing more about a particular market segment than the competition is an undisputed agency strength and - perish the thought - may supplant creative as king.
Secondly, initially led by a few innovative shops from the UK, the financial model and capitalizing on the value of agency developed intellectual property is clearly in play. The impact here moves from setting hourly rates and receiving so much per hour for spending 40 or 50 hours for writing "You deserve a break today" , or "Just do it", or "Reach out and touch someone" . . . agencies will seek long term payouts ( royalty-like in character) for continued use. Whoa - scary on the one hand yet fundamentally sound on the other; taking risks now describes the agency-client relationship more fully. Big hits mean more than a plaque for the wall, a pushpin or small statue - we're talking real money.
Third, the artificially created 'above and below the line' agency structure goes out the window as agencies become truly market centric. The new agency offering seamlessly incorporates these disciplines. It was an artificial distinction at best that can't be maintained and profess to offer fully integrated service to the client. The impact on corporate and brand perception (essentially the domain of PR) and the intimate relationship that perception has to the product and its sales is as true for Ben & Jerry's as it is for The New York Times . Unpaid media's effectiveness and understanding the impact and changes the web and consumer generated content has on the enterprise and its products represents a PR focused knowledge base - and it is an integral part of the brand and marketing effort.
And finally, there is the active agency incorporation of the definition that the brand is defined by the experience - and those specializing in experiential advertising now get a seat at the table. The action and participation with the brand build the bond and basis of likeability, purchase and loyalty. Equally important is the leadership experiential advertising has demonstrated in taking the brand to a virtual space. In time, three-dimensional representations will be de rigor for product sale on the web and the virtual reality created already defines the equities the brand possesses.
If readers have other new dimensions of agency behavior to add - let me know. Soon its fall - and I could use another lecture.
A ton of folks from the record industry hover on the forum so I thought that I’d address a topic of interest to you all.
I had some great conversations when I was at the digital media conference in DC a couple of weeks ago. One of them was about what it actually takes to get people to change their behavior. What works best? What doesn’t work?
Example: “Fear” - Fear was thought for a long time to change behavior. Execution on that example was every drunk driving campaign talking to young adults. However, as MADD learned, fear doesn’t work because most young adults think they are invincible…… so the core feeling of “It won’t happen to me” trumps the threatened danger that the messages contain.
Fear, as it just so happens, also doesn’t work in stopping illegal music downloads. The industry can threaten to sue, or even sue everybody. That threat isn’t going to keep anybody from illegally downloading music.
What to do? C3 – That’s what you do!
C3 – The answer to changing behavior. CONVENIENCE - CONTROL - CHOICE
The esteemed Dr. Burns and I talk about this one at length and often.
Why are some brands getting more money for less product in smaller packages? C3
What does the record industry need to do to get you to legally buy music?
Two things. Jam the illegal downloading channels with fake files, and then turn up the C3 on the legal channels.
That’s the formula! Make one option a guaranteed pleasant experience that is C3 fortified and the customers will pay.
I did more than pose this question to a friend – I set up a little research. I had my friend promise that he would only download music (his own) from a “partner” computer that I set up for him. I took his entire music collection away from him and told him that he would have to download it from the “partner computer”.
I took around 9,000 songs and added 1,000,000 fake files. Each file appeared to be the same song.
One week. That is all that it took. One week. One week before he purchased an on-line subscription to a service to buy music LEGALLY!!!!!! He couldn’t take the pain of having to weed through all the fake files to find the actual music. The legal download seemed very appealing and very C3.
I love it when the world seems to be explode with trivial stuff to make one smile - as opposed to murders, terrible accidents, war. At those times I avoid the news and have trouble falling asleep. Well, this was a great week for me in terms of world news. To be served up the new logo for the Olympics in the UK - and the ending of Sunday's final Sopranos episode all in one week. Sweet. And, it brings advertising and expectancy theory to mind - at least to my mind.
There is stuff you expect - particularly if there is something about your business that qualifies somehow as creative. It gives you the opportunity to grab those wonderful moments to break new ground, to be innovative . . . to do things that no one has ever seen before. Your skill and experience lets you take it to the edge - with the style, elegance and confidence that has characterized your work. So, were the folks at Wolff Olins, the branding agency that did the work surprised when the crumpets hit the fan - I think not! To be an artist - to be in any creative endeavor - is to hear the dissident voice over almost anything you do. It is to be expected.
And then there is the end to a story, a film, a book - the closing moments of a TV series that is, perhaps, the most celebrated of our time. So unexpected was the ending of the Sopranos on Sunday night that not only did thousands send screaming messages to HBO and related websites, but I suspect hundreds more threw their shoes and smashed their TV screens in anger that their television had failed them - some technical mishap that robbed them of the sight and sound of the mayhem they anticipated. But it worked.
Unexpected that is relevant to the market and the product is embraced. The Olympic logo is simply considered off the wall and of no personal relevance. Unexpected - for sure; yet unappreciated because of its lack of relevance to the games, the audience and the host city. By contract, the mystery and involvement of the viewing audience with Tony and his family is sound, in place, another surprise I a show of surprises and - each of us in our own way, gets it. Cut to black worked, it socked us in the gut and we will talk about for days - like the i-pod, Honda cog and got milk ads unexpected when it is well done becomes a defining moment of our culture.
Every once in a while I think that we need to look at some rather traditional and standard approaches to marketing decisions – stuff that has merit and has worked – and examine how experiential advertising efforts intersect with contemporary business practice. And, as the “experiential” work moves from “alternative” to become “mainstream” and expected the relationship to the constructs of premium vs. price-based, market share, growing or diminishing categories and other marketing considerations will become more important as part of the experiential proposal to new clients. Eric (if-it’s-Tuesday-I-must-be-in- New-Delhi-Hauser) and I want us all to look smart as this evolution rolls forward.
So, as we try to establish guidelines and best practices to help promote both the effectiveness and acceptance of experiential advertising what can we adapt from marketing theory that helps bring thee two disciplines together. (Whoops – Is experiential advertising a discipline – a topic for another day I suspect.) I suggest that a good starting place is to look at those categories that are dominated by a leader – e.g., beer, athletic shoes, hybrid cars – and what we would suggest for those in second – or third, or fourth - place. It is often the case that those are the most exciting and challenging assignments.
Leaders, I think, maintain their position by steadfast innovation – year after year, season after season. Thus, it is Nike who intros “Air”, and modern high tops – Coke bringing “Zero” and “Blak” to the market – and Apple brings us “i-Pod”. The next in line also need innovative solutions but must add to that approach precise targeting. Generally speaking, in the presence of strong brand preference for the leader, identifying and attracting those that are persuadeable (a term I cherish and will always attribute to Jack Supple) to consider trial is a hoped for result from any experiential campaign. For that market segment that is approachable and will participate in our campaign the relevance of the offer and its presentation are the moves that encourage not only trial, but also cause a re-shuffling of the considered set. And, the offer and presentation are the stuff of experiential advertising. The promise experiential advertising mavens can make to their potential customers must be clearly slotted in that direction and speak to the likelihood of increasing relative market share (RMS).
Embracing RMS as a marketplace reality places experiential advertising strategy and execution squarely in the marketing mind set. Neither the agency nor he product manager believe that there are hundreds of thousands of “newbies” and their families slowly making their way to major markets from Montana. The clients who move portions of their spend to experiential campaigns will quickly recognize that their agencies understand that by and large they are in a share fight and the increase in their RMS is a wonderful measure of the success of the campaign.
As always – the thoughts expressed in our blog are suggestive and, correct or not, reflect the current belief of the author. Yet, deep down, I am educable and look forward to your comments and your efforts to straighten out my thinking.
Neal is going to lead the dance this week in our latest blog adventure of the Academy and Practitioner…..:) He had a lot to say...So I kept my part short.:) E
Like many others, I spend time thinking about “brand” and the stature of that concept in an environment that sees content as king and is focused upon the strength of consumer-generated media. The significance of brands and branding today requires full exploration and research – and yet I think that on-line discussions, perhaps in blogs like this one, can help our understanding.
The notion and definition of the term “brand” has changed and in some sense reflects current advertising and marketing practice. Initially (and I’m really not sure what “initially” means – let’s assume the 1950’s), the term was considered roughly equivalent to the product and service logo – and the term itself is often seen to parallel the branding of cattle that characterized the ranching business of the Western United States. Interestingly enough, that period of time also defined the term “maverick”, allegedly named for Samuel Maverick - an attorney and early ranch owner in Texas (circa 1847) - who often had cattle that did not carry a skin-seared identification. In the 1960’s the term ‘brand’ was considered to be a promise and convey the guarantee that what was purchased was of quality. About a decade later “brand” was viewed as a road map – particularly for those concerned with retail aisle end-caps - with regard to packaged goods in supermarkets with hundreds of facings – and were used to navigate one’s way through the super market.
More recently, “brand” has become a central theme in both advertising and marketing disciplines and practice. The encounter or experience gave rise to the expression that “the experience was the brand and that the brand is the experience” . . . rather circular in terms of its syntax but clear in the general agreement that the impact of the experience was defining and persuasive regarding what it was the brand represented. And, the concept will continue to change in meaning as technology, practice and culture continue to modify the ways in which information is distributed and received.
The strength of the brand lies in large part with the community that identifies with it and refers to it as “my brand”. One can argue that without a community (e.g., regular users/customers) the brand does not exist. Equally important are a host of other factors or touchpoints that interact to produce the vital and organic construct called “brand”. In that sense the interaction and the effect of relatively small changes in the marketplace has huge impacts . . . bit reminiscent of some of the principles of Chaos Theory and the notion of sensitive dependence.
Brand manifestation – its adherents, popularity, ability to maintain price point, acceptance in international markets and a host of other factors are exquisitely related. Today a major intervening variable are the on-line social communities and postings that essentially define or redefine a product or service brand. Many believe that if one wishes to know what their brand stands for all they need do is to “google it!” IN any case the traditional metrics used in advertising to determine who we were reaching and impacting were derived from mass media publications and broadcasts, generally based on CPM. The existence of highly communicative social networks was not a factor. Tied to product or service those of us growing up without My Space and PIN’s belonged to social communities that were important to us, but far less interactive and supportive than the social networks available today. At best, to acknowledge our brand associations, we smiled at those wearing PF Flyers and a few noted that others in 7th grade wore their Captain Midnight Decoder ring to class.
Thanks Neal – Test Test…..microphone check.:) While I agree that branding requires a full exploration – I also feel strongly that over-analysis leads to brand paralysis. Back in the day, around the time the earth was cooling, it took forever to go through the branding process. I think that today’s advanced branding techniques, like perceptual mapping, allow one to achieve “brand clarity” very quickly. I’m sure that you have an intimate knowledge about this since you teach it at UT.
I really like the intricate story that you wove regarding how the notion of brands has changed over the decades. You said that it has appeared to change from logo --- promise ---- roadmap ---- experience. That is quite a change in thinking. As an experience guy though, I would say that brand has always been about the experience no matter what the books from each particular time period state. I would simply argue that the thinking has evolved since the 50’s. Everything that you mentioned above was created to have audiences experience them, and to feel a certain way.:)
As you know, I always reference the quote that you gave me to present to your fellow academics at Stanford’s Media X conference.
My typical question is what does that mean? The typical response was it's a 
Those that know me - know that I am a 
I chuckle at all of the questions and leave feeling like I've won the 
As those of us in advertising and marketing explore, begin to understand and use media and message processes generally called new or "
Understanding the importance disruptive media break-through can bring and the effectiveness it possesses in building brand trial and loyalty can be easily misunderstood because of comparisons to traditional media costs. Television (network, spot and cable) and radio (network and spot) advertising costs are typically measured in cpp (cost per rating point); newspaper and magazine advertising costs are more often measured in CPM (cost per thousand). Yet, at best these are cost indices rather than measures of effectiveness. In an era of audit and measurement, where clients demand that agencies produce evidence of a return on investment (ROI) for the dollars invested in reaching their desired audience, experiential campaigns excel in terms of what they deliver. 
Leaders in the media planning and evaluation business recognize the importance of new media and appropriate evaluation. Recently, Initiative North America CEO Richard Beaven commented at the 
Entertainment for entertainment's sake is just that Humor for humor's sake is just that Fear for fear's sake is just that Etc.. Etc......
AS A MATTER OF FACT.....If that ad campaign had been done for 
As I write this post I am having to come to the silly realization that I, Erik Hauser, being of sound mind (kinda) and sound body have had a destructive and abusive relationship with 
It is safe to say that I am a huge music fan. I am also THE biggest fan of C3 when it comes to my music consumption. My car is a perfect example. I have everything right at my fingertips : Radio, DVD, CD, IPOD, 
