Some of the greatest case studies in marketing and advertising have come from times of extraordinary challenge. Without question, the financial crisis that came to a head in late 08/early 09 was one of those challenges. So…what would you do if you were top marketer for a brand right in the middle of it all? In this episode, Michael Fischer, Senior VP of Marketing at Coldwell Banker, shares with us those lessons.

Why challenge the traditional media mix? The Director of Invention for Mindshare, Global Media Agency of the Year, shares his thoughts, perspectives, and experiences in working with brands like Cottonelle, Kotex, and Huggies.

Oh, and if you are as curious as I was to better understand the title Director of Invention, you will truly enjoy this episode!

View the AAF “Connecting with consumers in new ways”
panel below

How do you get to market Billion Dollar brands like Direct TV or perhaps those found within the Wrigley product portfolio? How do you start with nothing and build a business that exclusively represents 30 Fortune 500 companies? Well as they say, success leaves clues.

And here, in this video, the marketers themselves share some with you. Enjoy.

Click here to watch Jon Gieselman’s response on the AAF panel

Last week I had the opportunity to moderate a panel discussion for the American Advertising Federation, “How BIG BRANDS connect with consumers in new ways through alternative advertising”

Among the panel were top executives running billion dollar brands.

There was one question in particular that i asked which got a lot of discussion going -   Web 2.0 marketing zealots often proclaim that any marketer who spends a dollar on print or TV is a fool.

Ok, thats their opinion.  But I tend to listen to EXPERIENCE rather than OPINION.  So who better to listen to than a  marketer who is doing it every day, responsible for a $20 Billion dollar number.  His opinion MATTERS.  You want to learn how to golf, you listen to Tiger.   You want to understand how a serious marketer investing hundreds of millions of dollars into his business thinks? Listen to Jon Gieselman the SVP of Advertising and Public Relations at DirecTV.

A brand marketer has one primary job – to influence us. Their marketing strategy is to influence our brain so that we associate some of our most desired feelings and wants to their brand.

How do they do this? Well typically they utilize our sense of sight and hearing within their branding strategies. Think about it. A print ad utilizes, sight, radio and hearing. A television commercial utilizes both.

Question for you, how many print ads do you remember from this past week? TV spots?

Here’s another question, ever walk through a mall past Abercrombie & Fitch and notice a unique scent in the air?
Perhaps you have been onboard Singapore Airlines you are struck by how clean it smells?
Cinnabon? Does that smell not make you crave that most unhealthy breakfast on planet earth?

Well that’s because our sense of smell is controlled through our olfactory system which is the strongest sense linked to memory. And in the end, marketers are trying to get their brand into our long term memory storage, while associating pleasure to that emotion. Master marketers and business branding experts know that one of the fastest, most powerful ways to do this is by leveraging our sense of smell.

Now obviously categories such as beauty, fragrance, food, beverages, beer wine, liquor all have this as a critical element of their product design – but do they leverage and execute it in their marketing plan? Do they allow you to experience the smell and use it to influence us?

Further, how can other categories like travel, auto, even credit cards use these branding strategies to their advantage?