With the diversification of media outlets and the rise of the digital age, it’s no wonder more firms are turning to Kendra Hatcher for help devising their marketing strategies. The SVP Director of Consumer Context Planning for Mediavest makes it her business to know how consumers interact with the media and what types of marketing opportunities that presents. She recently discussed the ins-and-outs of context planning with Brand Connections CEO Brian F Martin, exploring ways her work with Coca-Cola can benefit other marketers.

In trying to understand how consumers engage with and consume media, Hatcher looks beyond the raw data. “Traditionally people would look at time spent and go ‘You know what? That person watches a lot of TV,’ or ‘That person is online a lot,’” according to Hatcher. “Well, the idea is to go one step further and go ‘Well, why?’” Pulling quantitative data from top consumer research firms (including MRI, Yankelovich, Nielsen, Simmons and Arbitron) is only one side of the coin. Instead of doing focus groups that primarily test creative concepts or advertising campaigns, Hatcher and her peers are more likely to gather information about media contacts (which she defines as “any way that someone experiences a brand”). “We want to know how informative that contact is, how engaging that contact is – really going deep into how persuasive that contact is in getting a person to purchase an item.” Armed with that data, Hatcher strategizes how, when, and where to connect brands to consumers.

Her team enumerates a broadening array of up to 30 media contacts for clients, going far beyond the traditional television, radio, outdoor and print channels. Street teams, brand mentions in song lyrics, ad-plays before movies, delivery truck branding and word of mouth are just a few of the less-considered components Hatcher cooks into her meatier media model. One simple way to grow business is to examine your consumer research statistics, Hatcher suggests. “Start internally,” she advises. “Start with what you do know about your consumer and then extend.” Some savvy marketers have discovered latent in-store marketing opportunities after crunching the numbers.

Another contemporary brand driver is pop culture. The 40 Under 40 award-winner names reality television programming and technology as two of the major forces behind its pervasive cross-generation spread. “You can now participate in pop culture,” she says, to the point where “you can become it.” Growing user-participation allows the media to digest then dictate what’s popular more than ever, Hatcher adds. But by the same token, the shortened fame cycle (down from 15 minutes to 5 minutes) makes it harder for marketers to stay ahead of consumers and continually introduce them to the next big thing. “If we’re going to be that conduit for someone to experience pop culture then we have to always have something, know what’s next and figure out how we’re going to deliver it,” she stresses.

Harnessing the public’s “celebreality” infatuation is a pop culture hot point Hatcher shares. One on hand she believes the angle works because celebrity’s lives really are more interesting than most, but the SVP also thinks people derive special pleasure from discovering the shortcomings of the rich and the famous. “You shouldn’t want to see a train wreck on TV, but really you do.” Still, Hatcher says she’d never suggest her clients substitute pop culture tie-ins for solid products and marketing techniques. “We’re really using pop culture more as a point of connection and not as a replacement for a brand idea.”

The media observer believes American’s love affair with and propensity to consume online and mobile content is a trend that won’t fade away any time soon. “The future will continue to be digitally driven,” says Hatcher. “When you look at the impact of broadband, as well as consumers embracing technology and adopting it into their lifestyle so quickly now (as quickly as it can be manufactured) … who knows where it’s going to go?” The Mediavest woman sees more advertising dollars being aimed at social networking sites and says clients in general are more willing to shift resources to web efforts. It’s a smart move, in her book.

For Hatcher’s more junior compatriots she offers three words of advice: Cultivate your own curiosity and encourage it in others, become an outstanding communicator, and “don’t lose sight that this is all about selling.” Feel free to call her if you can’t come up with 30 media contacts on your own.

If you don’t crane your neck at chrome dubs or cock an ear at cranked-up bass, Jeri Yoshizu probably isn’t marketing to you. As Scion’s Manager of Sales & Promotions, Yoshizu has a very specific target for her messages and a limited budget to attract them. Recently nominated as one of Advertising Age’s 40 under 40 executives, her approach is as unique as Scion’s brand-building roadmap. Brand Connections CEO and founder, Brian F Martin, recently spoke with Yoshizu about the automaker’s lifestyle marketing tactics and its reliance on counterculture market movers.

With an academic background in information technology and database programming, Yoshizu worked on logistics for Toyota early in her career. She focused on process-oriented elements at first, but the Internet age precipitated Toyota to create a web marketing division. Her duties further evolved after Toyota Motor Corporation founded the Scion division in 2003, and Yoshizu’s responsibilities today include work on the badge’s magazines, CD’s, and events. While such marketing tools are relatively unused among automakers, the division’s non-traditional approach is geared to attract an often jaded group. By leveraging pop culture and understanding what’s relevant today to the 18- to 34-year-old urban male driver, Scion hopes to engage the “influencers” and “tastemakers” lurking in the demographic. That’s where Yoshizu comes in: “I fish out and translate for corporate America, or Toyota/Scion, etc., how we can better brand ourselves to those people through those channels, whether it’s through music, through art, film, etc.”

Most marketers concern themselves with ad development for print publications and decisions regarding where to run such ads, but Scion’s team has taken it a step further. The idea to produce its own magazine was born from a traditional brochure model. “Whenever you see a product brochure you always see a person who’s holding a skateboard next to the car,” according to Yoshizu. “When we were launching Scion we really realized that if we were going after an influential person they don’t want you to tell them ‘That’s you and you need this car.’” Yoshizu and her team hatched the idea to run targeted content alongside, but independent of, standard auto descriptions. “It worked out,” she boasts. “We’re on [issue] No. 11 right now, and it’s been a great experience going from trying to emulate what other magazines do in media (the niche publications), to we’re now bringing content that fits …” Scion Magazine is doing so well that outside advertisers are now clamoring to buy space in the publication, Yoshizu reports.

It’s evident that Scion has worked hard to become a part of the culture they’re targeting (the company recently released its 18th sampler CD). Creatively forging this relationship over time, rather than pandering to their target group, is now earning Scion the street-cred it craves. While many marketers have jettisoned such low-tech tactics in favor of online media campaigns, Yoshizu believes Scion’s feats prove sampling, direct mailings, and promotional events are still highly relevant. She concedes Scion’s shows may lack over-the-top glitz and glamour, but Yoshizu says it’s unimportant because their potential consumers care more about quality. Even if the automaker could afford a top-dollar endorser they might not opt for it. “When I hear about someone paying an agency a lot of money to have one of their clients endorse a brand it makes me cringe a little bit,” she says, noting that corporate America is now in the driver’s seat in terms of pushing careers – a stark turnaround from previous decades.

Finding those under-the-radar acts and personalities before they blow up is one of the biggest challenges the Scion marketer faces. If MTV represents mainstream pop-culture, Yoshizu characterizes the underground elements she mines as one step below the surface, but far from unknown. “I don’t really have a lot of associates or acquaintances that are power people way up high at a record label,” Yoshizu admits. “I know somebody who runs a small magazine, or runs a small record label, or is the third level designer of a street wear company. Those are the people I talk to.” Hours spent conversing with grass-roots level folks, and a huge cell phone bill to match, help her uncover burgeoning stars. “I don’t sit around and say ‘Oh that’s going to be the next big thing in underground.’ That’s not what I do.” She does value the word-of-mouth endorsements volunteered by those who work with Scion, even those that never quite burst onto the scene. It’s also interesting to note how Yoshizu filters out personalities for the brand. She has basically instituted a zero-tolerance policy with regard to celebrity babysitting. “I have way too many projects going on to allow [a celebrity] to disrupt the whole world …” she says. “If that person, or group, or whatever it is, is too troublesome the corporate client needs to be able to draw a line and say ‘you know what it’s just not worth it.’”

Finally, Yoshizu preaches harmony personally and in the workplace. “You need a positive, happy team to make things happen,” she counsels. One must also strive to uphold the standards and excellence, execution and deliverables that govern traditional advertising, Yoshizu warms, when marketing through direct, sampling and promotional campaigns. Her final tips: avoid campaigns that don’t pass the red face test, and be honest about your goals and ambitions relative to your skill set. Yoshizu’s advice might just unearth a new generation of marketing achievement.