David Verklin doesn’t create the ads, but consumers would never see them if it wasn’t for him. As CEO of Carat North America, the continent’s largest independent media services company, he is in charge of placing the ideas that creative agencies conjure. Broadly defined, Verklin sees his job as helping clients manage all the ways their brand touches customers. In a recent interview with Brand Connections CEO and founder Brian F Martin, the industry leader shares industry insights while stressing the need for marketers to become more consumer focused.

“We don’t make the ads, but every time you see an ad on TV (or listen to it on the radio or see it in a magazine), a person like me and a company like ours has decided that ad should be in that location, has negotiated the cost of the time and space, and is monitoring and planning all the client’s media efforts,” explains the industry mover and shaker. As part of the bifurcated media businesses’ lesser-known media-buying side, Verklin says the increase of advertising options has heighten the need to understand where and when consumers are accessible. No longer do firms create ads first and decide where to run them second. “I think more and more people are coming to the conclusion that maybe you need to think about the communications plan first, then you decide what the message should be,” he says. “That is diametric change from even six years ago. It’s quite extraordinary.”

While no one expects the 30-second spot to fall entirely out of favor among major advertisers, media fragmentation is also causing marketers to rethink basic models. Verklin believes a diversified approach has essentially usurped uni-vehicular media plans
and other traditional media consumer outreach. “Media mix is not a new idea, but it’s a simple idea which is fundamentally to use lots of different stuff,” he says. “If you want to know what the media plan of the future is going to look like, look down at your feet in the shower tomorrow and you’ll see the media plan of the future. The media plan of the future is going to look like the tiles of your bathroom floor. Lots of different pieces and components fit together in a seamless whole.” One benefit of the media mix approach, he points out, is reduced waste. “These new emerging platforms are letting people put ads in front of the interested, and that’s the future of advertising,” he says, “advertising to the interested.”

Search engine optimization, web site design and build, multicultural media, sports and event marketing, outdoor, experiential marketing, wireless and gaming are the new puzzle pieces the media maven assembles for clients. Gaming and mobile, in particular, are areas in which Verklin expects to see vastly increased “commercial persuasion” opportunities. User-created advertising and web-based consumer channels are other ways to get customers involved. The challenge for user-created content, Verklin says, is to avoid using pre-roll, where commercials interrupt the user-experience.

The only way to determine who is interested in what, of course, is to delve deep into the consumer domain. This is one area in which Verklin believes Carat has an advantage. “I like to think of my company, of Carat, as a research company that buys media time,” he says. The New York City-based firm’s annual $60 million research budget backs that sentiment. “We do an enormous amount of in-depth interviewing, both statistical as well as qualitative with consumers … to try to look at the world through the eyes of the consumer and try to find the moment of aperture.” Identifying the elusive moments when consumers are most open and interested in advertising messages is what drives Verklin and Carat.

Verklin, a self-described knucklehead, began his career on the agency side with Young & Rubicam, and says his success should encourage others in the advertising industry. There are certain traits, however, which he thinks helped him achieve success. Curiosity, enthusiasm, and communication skills are among the most desirable characteristics, Verklin believes. He also says it’s wise to become a student of the industry. Whether perusing trade publications or picking the brains of co-workers, the Carat topper stresses continual self-improvement for those striving to climb the corporate cliff. For Carat, David Verklin has truly been worth his weight in gold.

Most marketers are trained to answer three questions about their brands: what, who, and how? When considered in the proper context, these crucial building blocks are paramount for charting a clear path to sustainable brand success. There remains, however, one even more critical question most marketers fail to ask, according to a recent discussion between Brand Connections CEO Brian F Martin and a well-known marketer, who requested his identity to be withheld. Martin, the company founder, breaks down the essentials and explores the next phase of marketing in this podcast.

The first question facing marketers usually deals with a prospective product launch, messaging around that product, and the intent of the message. In essence, marketers must determine how to persuade consumers to buy or consider the product or service. The second question generally deals with the target audience. Who do you want to reach with your message? Every brand has a demographic or psychographic target of some kind, and some have advanced to the point of targeting consumers on an individual level. Strong brands often spend significant time defining this group or singling out specific consumers within the group. Finally, marketers have to ask how to best reach consumers through a variety of media, and how often, while spending as little as possible.

While these questions remain keystones for many marketers, regardless of the brands they represent, the interviewee stresses the new question marketers must begin asking is “when?” The timing of message delivery is not traditionally a primary consideration, but at least one giant in the field believes that is about to change.

“When is it appropriate for me to communicate with my target? … When is she most receptive? When is the moment that my message – that my persuasive form of communication – can be there for her when she is most willing to consider it?” Martin asks. “We always have a when.” In re-capping the discussion, Martin emphasizes that brands that understand and answer the question of “when” will enjoy a significant competitive advantage over the next five years, if they do so in a scalable way.

While some may view the Internet as the manifestation of “when,” the characterization only holds true in some situations. “That only occurs when a consumer is actively in the process of seeking information. The only time that classic Internet marketing works is when you choose to be in front of the computer and if you’re doing a search for information… But that’s only a fraction of a consumer’s day,” Martin says. This form of electronic “when” marketing is constrained by its reliance on the consumer coming to find the product. On its own, this solution is inadequate.

The new approach calls for marketing plans that first uncover when their targets are most open to influence, then work backwards. Accounting for this fourth component will change traditional thinking about brands’ media mix, consumer promotions, and fringe spending on items such as sponsorships. The key is reaching a large enough group of targets enough times to have an impact, then taking them through the closure process, according to Martin.

Companies spend hundreds of billions of dollars on advertising every year in the U.S., but most marketers focus on everything except the direct object they are attempting to sway: the human brain. Renowned author, speaker, and Millward Brown South Africa Chairman Erik de Plessis recently spoke with Brand Connections CEO Brian F Martin about the mysteries of the mind and what marketers must do to impact our grey matter.

The South African native’s early experience with computer science opened a doorway into the media planning business. He then briefly ran his own company, Impact, but quickly learned that the human brain is no mere computer. Many historical models of marketing, du Plessis notes, were based on the idea of a hardwired mind believed to function like a machine, but contemporary research has turned several of those theories on their head. Some of du Plessis’ work directly contributed to the reshaping of our thoughts about thinking.

In a departure from traditional thought, du Plessis’ early research into memory and recall established a new paradigm where the brain was seen as an emotional organ. Du Plessis and his colleagues conducted one test where they surveyed people about new television advertisements shortly after their debut. It turned out that some of the most-liked ads were also among the most remembered. “We found that ‘ad-liking’ was the best predictor of people remembering ads,” he says. “It’s as simple as that.”

With all the focus on target customer demographics and psychographics, it’s easy to forget that the mind of the consumer is the ultimate processor and decision maker. Du Plessis’ book, The Advertised Mind: Groundbreaking Insights into How Our Brains Respond to Advertising, asserts that eliciting emotion is critical to make truly memorable marketing. The 2005 publication draws heavily on Millward Brown research to conclude the strongest factor in successful marketing is whether an advertisement creates an emotional response in its target audience. The Advertised Mind also suggests that these memorable ads sway consumers in favor of particular brands.

One significant distinction, according to du Plessis, is the line between “entertaining” ads and “emotion-evoking” ads. A commercial without relevant information, an aspirational message, or positive product reinforcement is largely useless, he says, even if it is entertaining. “As long as it’s not boring or confusing, it doesn’t matter whether an ad generates pleasure or pain.” To answer Machiavelli’s timeless question with a new twist, it may be better to be feared and loved. For marketers, it’s being remembered that’s important.

Our growing understanding of neuroscience seems to back the theory. Throughout the course of evolution, the human brain has become more attuned at filtering out unimportant signals. Today’s media-rich environment bombards us with more messages then ever, forcing our minds to process and dismiss unimportant signals with nearly-instantaneous speed. The brain’s familiarity with commercials and its typical judgment of them as relatively insignificant, du Plessis says, causes us to subconsciously tune them out. Because most marketing elicits little in the way of a pleasure or pain response, the bulk of commercials are quickly forgotten. Unless spots emotionally engage consumers or register a potential for pain or pleasure, they are unlikely to penetrate the brain in the first place.

The key question for marketers to ask themselves, says du Plessis, is this: “at the end of the day … what do you own of somebody’s mind?” While the human brain is not designed for “ad-liking,” du Plessis and his book offer a deeper dive into emotions and the role they play in creating effective messaging. Unique food for thought.