Marketing BIG BRANDS online – 101 Lessons from someone DOING it, not TALKING about it

Posted by Brian F Martin on April 28, 2009
Advertising, Brand Marketing Strategy


Click on the play button below to listen to the full audio Podcast

 

In just ten years, internet branding and online advertising has surpassed magazine advertising in terms of total dollars invested by brands.

During that time, there have been lots of people talking about how national brands should be using the web. Basically, a lot of opinions.

Ironically, most of these people have never worked for a big marketer, nor have they ever marketed a national brand.

Today, you’ll get an opportunity to hear from someone who has been doing it since the beginning – and his track record suggests that he knows what he is doing!

Seth Greenberg is the Director of Online Advertising and Internet Media for Intuit, marketers of brands like Quicken and Turbo Tax. On a side note, notice his title…more and more companies are dedicating headcount solely to focus on directing the brand’s online marketing and branding investment.

In addition to sharing with us how he sold in Vanilla Ice as the spokesperson for an online tax product, (that in and of itself should tell you that he’s a good marketer), you will get an insider’s look as to what it’s like to be responsible for a major online investment.

Be sure to check out…
Intuit’s The TaxRap featuring Vanilla Ice: http://TheTaxRap.com
AOL homepage take over: http://aol.taxmojo.com
The TurboTron (Click on Full Experience): http://wow.taxmojo.com & http://hoops.taxmojo.com

15 Comments to Marketing BIG BRANDS online – 101 Lessons from someone DOING it, not TALKING about it

Randy Wilcox
April 28, 2009

Like that song! In my career I have seen a lot of brands try to use the online space, this guy is at a different level. good learning, thanks for sharing…i would have liked to have heard more about the results of the twitter experiment. If there is any way to post that, thank you.

James C.
April 28, 2009

Did I hear correctly that Turbo Tax has 21 million subscribers out of 141 million American tax payers? That is impressive. Seth Greenberg’s online campaigns are probably a large reason why, I have seen Turbo Tax online many times over. I also love the fact that Seth had the guts to integrate VI into one of his initiatives. VI has such a negative reputation and truly never did anything wrong in the public’s eye. As far as online vs. print goes, with the way technology has advanced in just the past ten years, and our infatuation with social media, it fair to predict that print’s share of the market will dwindle to far deeper lows…

Anthony L.
April 28, 2009

Very interesting,I love learning about other ways to reach people. I’ve tried print marketing in my business and got zero results. The online/social networking has done great for me but word of mouth has been by far the best.I love the social networking and in a short time i see it working wonders for my business. So seeing what Seth Greenberg is doing is very informative. I got alot out of that one. Thanks for posting

David Rich
April 28, 2009

WOW…in two minutes I learned so many things…and that was just Brian’s introduction. After listening to Seth Greenberg I don’t think you could find anyone better to learn from about marketing on-line. Seth and Turbo Tax…opened my mind today. I look forward to taking these learnings and turning them into action tomorrow….Thank You Brand Fast Trackers!

Eric Cohen
April 29, 2009

Vanilla Ice? Wow, finding out that he is still around was worth the price of admission!

I thought the podcast was great – some real practical advice. Impressive to hear how progressive Intuit is with social media. I thought the Twitter contest was particularly interesting.

Thanks for the info!

Lara Fabans
April 30, 2009

Good question asking about how someone can promote their brand when it’s not something sexy. We do need to get beyond banner ads. And I’m glad you asked him to go back and explain about word of mouth.

Nina Cabello
April 30, 2009

Doing the tax rap was fun. And why not Vanilla Ice being a judge?

Steve Grady
April 30, 2009

For anyone else new to this, CPG stands for Consumer Packaged Goods.

Perry Sunderland
April 30, 2009

It’s interesting you mention that most national brands seem to be missing the boat with Web 2.0. It seems most of the books are geared to corporate rather than the small to medium sized business. Maybe some of the presidents should visit their local bookstores more often and stop assuming they know everything.

Jason Allen
April 30, 2009

I think it’s brilliant when people can reuse brands as icons in a new and exciting way to catch our imagination. Especially around special times like Tax Time, Halloween, etc. Vanilla Ice! I think that’s hilarious- definitely an attention grabber.

Dick Clement
April 30, 2009

It sounds like their business model is to be innovative to ease customer’s pain. I imagine the challenge is not to be too innovative so people will accept the product, but be innovative enough so existing customers upgrade.

Mal O'Neill
April 30, 2009

Great interview! I’m glad you made him talk about Vanilla Ice. There was a lot to learn about how to brand a campaign.

Russ Schmidt
April 30, 2009

I loved the Comedy is Hard, Turbo Tax is easy promotion. What I like about all of the campaigns discussed in this podcast is that the brand name was clear. Many commercials forget to mention the brand, or you’re left laughing & then forget the name of the product. And we all know that NOOO BUENOO. EDS’s herding cats commercial is classic. It was cute, it was funny, but you didn’t remember it was for EDS. With the TurboTax rap, or joke or the pingpong ball, you remember the message that most things can be difficult but that Intuit’s TurboTax will ease your tax pain and make filling out your tax forms easy.

Skyler Jordan
April 30, 2009

You should have pushed him harder on where people can voice their opinion. I was hoping for some links or a pointer to where on their website I can send my feedback.

Faye Petrie
September 3, 2010

I think as a brand manager, it is essential that the brands work together and not step on one another. Intuit is successful here. It’s easy to connect TurboTax with Quicken or Quickbooks, and the important fields are autofilled and saves me a lot of hassle. I wish more companies were this proactive.

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