First of all, what I’m about to share could come across as self-serving or self-centered. That is definitely not my goal. Instead, I’m hoping you will appreciate the lesson I learned from a simple linked-in post. A lesson about the human side of the marketing industry.

Let me start with a little background.

Covid-19 is the biggest crisis that has come along since the 2009 recession. And it happened much much faster. Within days of the stay-at-home restrictions, many of my colleagues from clients to agencies to other partners have been laid off, furloughed or seen salary reductions. In meeting with other agency leaders, many have seen client revenue dwindle to nothing in a matter of days.

In the early days of these cut-backs, there had been a few efforts to start to combat these challenges which seemingly appeared overnight. One in particular was from One Club, which normally is an organization focused on awards within our industry. They pivoted into launching a job board that started to aggregate the quickly diminishing opportunities. If you haven’t seen the job board, check it out here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScvVffOihJLhtlsTeB4z9BGWe_q0tSr2oy1CVGw9SBZp_CU9Q/viewform

About a week ago, on a whim really, I decided to share a post on linked-in. I had seen it shared by a few colleagues and appreciated the sentiment. And I know that if I were in this spot, I would want the same kind of help. Here was the post:

 

 

This is the part that may come across as self-serving, but again that’s not the goal. The post has received over 51,000 views and 75+ comments. More importantly, many people I know decided to share it as well. In all my years on linked-in, I’ve never had anything come close to this kind of engagement.

So what does it mean?

What it revealed to me that there is still a human side to our business. As the world has become more and more data-driven, people have begun automating the relationship side of the business. We’ve all received emails from people that appear slightly familiar on one hand, but slightly formulaic on the other hand. My favorite are the follow-up emails that become more and more passive aggressive. “I’m going to reach out ONE LAST time Matt”. What has happened, is we’ve tried to automate human connections. We are smarter than that. And this post proves it.

It also meant I had some work to do to fulfill the promise. Some people simply needed a linked-in review. I was actually surprised at how many connections could be made between people offering help and people needing help. So the post did its job. It helped create connections.

When you are genuine, people see that. When we are actually human, people will respond.

Relationships still matter. Human connection still matters.

Have you ever noticed how many people confuse sympathy with empathy? Turn on the TV today and you’ll hear scads of marketers telling you, “We’re in this together.” Really? How so? Isn’t that just sympathy masquerading as empathy? In 1909, the psychologist Edward Titchener translated the German Einfühlung (‘feeling into’) into English as empathy. Empathy can be defined as a person’s ability to recognize and share the emotions of another person, fictional character, or sentient being. It involves first seeing someone else’s situation from his perspective, then sharing his emotions. Today, I get dozens of white papers dealing with marketing during COVID. Some bring real insight into the situation while others offer me content that essentially regurgitates what is already out there. But almost all of them get one thing right: they suggest that brands need to double down on empathy. At Moroch, we believe that too, but actually practicing empathy is a lot harder than preaching it. Empathy is about more than just sharing someone’s perspective. To be truly empathetic, you must imagine yourself as him or her and, more than that, imagine yourself in his or her particular situation at the time. In order to do this, brands have to be able to step away from the balance sheet and actually see people as more than consumers. To move beyond sympathy and try to focus their efforts while generating content from the perspective of someone else. This chart from Psychology Today helps explain the difference between pity, sympathy, empathy, and compassion.   As the nation starts to poke its head out of the sand and get back to some semblance of a functioning economy again, marketers need to be extremely careful not to come across as obnoxiously Pollyanna. Because many things will never be the same again, and wide swaths of the population will still be struggling. People will still be dying, and the abysmal jobless rate is not going to suddenly evaporate. You don’t have to be morose. It’s okay to be optimistic, but remember to spend a little time in their shoes. If you were them, how would this message make you feel? Admittedly, a few brands have moved beyond empathy to compassion. And good for them. Compassion is when you actually do something about another person’s situation. Whether that’s free meals for first responders or loan forgiveness, every little bit helps. But each market is going to be different, so make sure you’re listening. As a special treat, I’m including one of my favorite videos about empathy so that if none of what I said makes sense, perhaps Brene Brown can explain it in a way that does:

A while back, I became a big believer in the idea that brands should work toward being more human. Consumers often assign brands human qualities, whether brands want them to or not. But if brands aren’t proactively managing and cultivating these human qualities, they risk being assigned some not-so-flattering traits. This phenomenon has created a significant, and ever-growing, amount of content surrounding the humanization of brands. However, there’s really nothing new under the sun. According to Chris Malone and Susan Fiske in The Human Brand, “Early humans developed a kind of genius for making two specific kinds of quick judgements: What are the intentions of other people towards me? And how capable are they of carrying out those intentions?” As humans, we tend to anthropomorphize practically everything. I even have a pillow I call “Little Jim,” but that’s another story. The point is, you can count on people doing the same thing to your brand.

As humans, we tend to anthropomorphize practically everything.

Today, during the new reality of living through – and after – the pandemic, brands are going to have to pay even more attention to the human characteristics people give them. For the foreseeable future, if your brand doesn’t exude empathy, you’d better rethink your marketing strategy. According to the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer, 33% of people will punish brands they felt weren’t acting appropriately during the pandemic. That means they’ll stop purchasing from those brands and potentially shout their disappointment from the social media rooftops. So, now the big question: how do we cultivate the brand personality we desire? IBM Watson has a cool tool that can analyze your company’s website and social content, giving you a rough readout of what human qualities you project. I’m not sure how accurate it is, but it does make you think differently about how consumers might think about you. Those qualities can be an indicator of trust, just like they are in humans. And today, trust and empathy are top-of-mind for both brands and consumers. As a matter of fact, the Edelman Report goes on to say that how well a brand responds to the pandemic will influence 65% of future purchases. So, be proactive. Tell the story of your brand your way, before someone else does it for you. And if you’re thinking about just waiting out the storm, well, we’d suggest you ready the lifeboats.

Digital Fight Club brings together marketing experts across agencies and brands alike to compete and defend their positions across a variety of pre-selected industry topics. Entering the ring for fight 5, to talk about top-down vs. bottom-up local marketing is Moroch’s very own Lauren Hoops, VP of Performance Media and Analytics and at the other end of the ring, we have Jamie Adams, CRO of Scorpion. Lauren kicked off the fight by talking about a problem that many clients face, and that is, how do brands get people back into the brick and mortar stores, when there are more convenient “at-home” options? Her solution – reach consumers through top-down communication. By approaching the problem from a localized standpoint, you can generate awareness and consideration, which is what keeps your business top-of-mind for the consumer. With geo-targeting and audience lists, upper-funnel marketing can become an affordable and effective tactic for clients even with the strictest budgets. The use of top-down communications helps both companies and brands showcase their value to the consumer and leads them to lower funnel channels. While her opponent fought bravely, Lauren dominated the conversation. Lauren showed why top-down communication is so important for clients and was named Digital Fight Club’s Fight 5 winner! You can watch Lauren deck it out in the full fight below.  

AI, AR, VR, DSP, OTT, RTB, ROS, NPS, IoT and the CMO favorite, ROAS have taken over marketing vernacular.

Is it just me, or is advertising getting more complicated? Now, acronyms like PPC and CPM seem like old news. It’s enough to make us agency veterans say WTF?! But I have to admit, I’m pretty excited. Our toolbox for connecting with consumers may be forcing us to learn a new language, but it’s also enabling new ways to generate more relevant, more impactful messaging. Don’t get me wrong, these are not ideas; these are tools. Ideas are still the power that drive real results. But the variety of ways we can propagate ideas has expanded exponentially. Data and technology have given us so many ways to increase ROI. And in this particular case, I’m not just talking Return on Investment, I’m talking about Return On Idea. It’s true that a big-enough idea can take on a life of its own. But today, the ability to amplify an idea to the right audience at the right time in the right channel has exploded.  What used to be a scattershot approach is now like guided marketing missiles directed at audiences most likely to be influenced. While we’re on the subject of connecting with consumers, AR and VR are now working their way into agency solutions—and vernacular—and proving their potential for generating incredible brand experiences. People can now interact with brands in ways they never dreamed possible. Imagine walking around a hologram of the new Porsche you have your eye on. Or in Volvo’s case, you can take a VR test drive right at home:     Progressive created a way to engage consumers at a national boat show by creating a VR experience that allowed trade show attendees the chance to compete with others in a boat race that had participants yelling OMG!     And why bother going to the store? Nike lets you scan your feet using AR for the perfect fit:     Every day the list is getting longer. TBH, it’s a little mind boggling. But IMHO, we’ve just STS.

I have to admit, I was truly entertained by a lot of the ads during the Super Bowl last night, not to mention the hype and the teasers leading up to it. Who couldn’t love Bill Murray reprising his role as Phil Conner in a version of the classic 1993 film Groundhog Day for Jeep? And because I’m slightly demented, I thought the Rick and Morty Pringle’s spot stood out for it’s sheer weirdness. I enjoyed Jason Momoa shedding his skin in the Rocket Mortgage spot, even though not everyone agrees on that one. I thought Sam Elliot’s mustache was one of the biggest stars of the night for Doritos. I’m also a sap when it comes to a tearjerker like Google’s story of Loretta; I felt that one. But amidst the funny and the fails, did anything really stand out? Did anyone make the kind of impact of “God made a farmer?” Was any new ground broken? Even though Tide’s recurring character was humorous at times, it had nowhere near the breakthrough power of “It’s a Tide Ad” from last year. Was any brand brave enough to step out of bounds? Was any client? It’s easy for me to sit back and armchair quarterback the event, but I guess I want more. I miss statements like Nike’s Kaepernick story. And even though that campaign was a success from a financial perspective, too, I like that it put a stake in the ground. It was brave. Microsoft sort of went there last night but it felt a little flat. Research says that purpose-driven brands outperform typical bottom-line driven ones by a large margin in the long haul, but is anyone really willing to take a risk at $5.6 million for a thirty-second slot? Recently, I came across a spot that took my breath away for its sheer audacity. For the bravery to present an idea like this and the bravery of a client and an organization to approve it. It challenged an entire industry to think different, as our friends at Apple used to say, and showed no fear in a sometimes stale and fearful category.   So, I’m looking forward to next year’s Super Bowl of advertising. I hope to laugh, to cry and to witness something truly groundbreaking. Hopefully, we’ll be able to label our industry as the home of the brave.

This is the time of year we gather to give thanks and celebrate the holidays with family and loved ones we may not see on a daily basis. My own extended family just gathered for Thanksgiving, and some who had traveled from afar expressed concern at seeing active signs of aging in my parents. After spending a few days together, everyone had a little bit of time to see things for themselves, and we were able to use some of our time to strategize as a family about how we could better support my parents and each other. We all agreed we would do some research, gather information on services available, etc. and share what we learned. I decided I would proactively hold up my end of the bargain, and I began researching. I went down medical and non-medical paths. There’s a considerable amount of information available on “healthy aging” and services for Boomers – and there should be. The number of Americans ages 65 and older is projected to nearly double from 52 million in 2018 to 95 million by 2060, and the 65-and-older age group’s share of the total population will rise from 16 percent to 23 percent. (U.S. Census Bureau, Population Projections.) But what might be right for my parents? What might be covered by insurance? What might be a fun new activity that would keep them engaged and learning new things? Feeling overwhelmed, I admittedly closed my laptop and poured a glass of wine. And then it hit me: As a marketer, I could help people like me. For the first time in—well, let’s be honest, EVER—I wished that some great brand or service was tracking my digital activity. They would see my digital cries for help, my frustration, my interest in cool programs I was unaware of before now. The more I searched, the more they would know what I needed. They would see the rabbit holes I went down and would understand that I had hit on something interesting that I wanted to learn more about. If only they were tracking me, they could help serve up information that would help me help my parents. So as a marketer, but more importantly as a daughter, I beg you: If you have a service that will pick my mom up and take her to a cutthroat bridge game at a new community center or a product that will help my dad’s stiff hands button his shirt more easily, tell me about it. I want to know. In all of my searches, I’ve discovered some wonderful organizations, brands and services that are doing amazing work in local communities. It would have made my hectic life so much easier if they had been tracking me, learning about what I needed and was interested in. Data is so often couched as a necessary evil in society, but I would argue that it can be used for so much more good than bad, especially when combined with humans who can analyze and interpret that data to learn more about how they can actually help you. In the spirit of giving, I offer a simple framework for smart marketing:

• Identify the bits of data that will help you find the people who need you/your brand/your service.
• Begin collecting data (automated analysis is fine but you will be more successful if you have some actual humans interpret it, too).
• Learn from the data. And I mean really learn from it. People’s habits, demographics and actions are great, but if you can get down to even a working theory of what they truly want, need and value, you’re doing better.
• Enlist the help of some creative friends (I might know a few) to craft content that hits the right emotional tone and provides real value to those people, not just platitudes.
• Test the work; measure everything you can. Then refine, optimize and humanize.

I truly think you’ll see something positive. And if you have a product or service that helps one person, it may just have a positive impact on a family and the community they call home. Like mine.

Moroch’s very own Matt Powell, CEO, and Timothy Kurtz, multi-brand franchisee of Planet Fitness and Altitude Trampoline Park, were invited to serve as speakers at the Franchise Marketing Leadership Conference last month in Atlanta. They discussed the importance of dynamic partnerships between the agency and franchisee in order to drive demonstrable business results. Attendees had the opportunity to learn how to navigate the evolving marketing landscape. This complexity has given franchisees the ability to connect with local audiences more effectively by telling their brand’s story, vital to driving franchisee business and achieving the client’s goals from the agency to client perspective. “The truth is, bringing customers and brands together today means marrying data with creativity and ingenuity. Simply put, that is exactly what Moroch does, and we do it in a way unlike most other agencies,” said CEO Matt Powell. “While many start with the largest possible group of customers to influence, we believe in igniting relationships between brands and people where they live, work, and play.” Matt and Tim outlined key elements to consider for a profitable partnership, including the value an integrated agency offers and the numerous benefits in return for having a business partner. They emphasized the importance of developing strategic marketing campaigns through the lens of each franchise’s local market and how a “bottoms-up approach” complements how corporations look at the business from the “top-down” perspective. Attendees walked away with a greater understanding of how agencies and franchisees can work together to connect media performance to the bottom line.

We’re excited to announce the Dallas/Fort Worth affiliate of Alliance for Women in Media (AWM) has named Tom Moroch, founder and principal of Moroch, as the recipient of the 35th annual Silver Award of Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award. The Silver Award of Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award is presented annually to a media professional in Dallas/Fort Worth who is above reproach both in regard to the hiring and promoting of women and promoting and helping the media business; directly contributes to the community at large; has made a direct, positive impact on the DFW media community; solely represents a commitment to excellence; and whose accomplishments are an example to others in the media and business community. On November 1, 1981, Tom opened Moroch and  Associates, with  11 people on the team – six women and five men. Three men were in leadership positions, and, equally, three women were in leadership positions. This was the “first signal” of what was to come over the next 36  years (and counting), when it comes to the role of women in Moroch’s journey. Prior to launching Moroch,  Tom led the Dallas operation for a very successful agency based in  Oklahoma,  the Lowe Runkle Company. In 1935, Mr. Runkle managed the Oklahoma City Office for Dallas based Glenn  Advertising. Mr. Runkle approached Mr. Glenn and told him he wanted to start his own agency and dream. Mr. Glenn sold Mr.  Runkle the OKC operation for $1, and coached Mr. Runkle in the early days as an owner. In 1981, Tom approached Mr. Runkle with the same premise and dream. Mr. Runkle sold Tom the Dallas operation of Lowe Runkle for $1. This legacy and DNA of generosity and creating opportunity for others carried forward with Tom throughout the years. Prior to founding Moroch 36 years ago, Tom served four years in the Criminal Investigation Division of the United States Army and did a tour of duty in Vietnam. He later served as the Director of Field Marketing for Kentucky Fried Chicken before beginning his long-standing partnership with McDonald’s. Since then, Tom has grown the company to an integrated agency serving over 30 brands. Throughout the years, Tom has been honored by countless industry organizations. He was inducted into the AAF Southwest Advertising Hall of Fame in 2010. Just a few years later, the agency joined Tom as an inductee of the Southwest Advertising Hall of Fame, receiving the organization’s annual “Governor’s Award”. He was also recognized nationally with the Paul Schrage Lifetime Achievement Award and the McDonald’s Larry Zimmerman Legacy Award, both in 2013. In 2017, Dallas 500 named Tom one of “The Most Powerful Business Leaders in Dallas-Fort Worth”. “Tom, the person, is even more impressive than Tom the marketer. He was always the first to support our Ronald McDonald Houses, our diversity symposiums, or a competing agency in need,” said Ralph Alvarez, Retired President and COO, McDonald’s Corporation. When Tom launched Moroch in 1981, he had only one overarching operating principle that is as present today as it was back then.  “Do the right thing”. While Moroch tries to “do the right thing” in all aspects of business, one very important application is giving back to and supporting the communities that helped make us successful. From 1981 to 2017, Tom and the agency have donated time, talent and treasure to a broad list of beneficiaries. Tom has established charities, served on many Boards of Directors, donated countless hours of volunteering, and created many campaigns for awareness and fundraising. In 2017, Moroch passed the $12 million mark in contributions to more than 100 organizations – $2.9 million in financial contributions and over $9.5 million in services and pro-bono work. Tom is known for his iconic white suits, which is famously worn to a new business meeting to stand out among the heads of other agencies, all dressed in grey or blue. But when he’s out of the office and out of the suit, he enjoys a good game of golf, cooking a homemade meal, and enjoying the comradery of his family. In her nomination of Tom Moroch, Claudia Schaefer, Chief Marketing Officer at Jamba Juice, said “There were many guiding principles that I learned from Tom and have taken with me on my career path. Those values including integrity, honesty, remembering your friends, and helping them on their journey, have shaped me into the leader I am today.” Melinda Yoder, Chief Operations Officer at Moroch, added “Today, for many, hiring and promoting women is a box to check. I never felt that Tom hired me or promoted me because I was a woman. He hired me, promoted me and, furthermore, supported me because he saw me as his equal. His advocacy was never a box to check. It was a foundational belief in equality and doing the right thing.” The 35th Annual AWM Awards of Excellence Gala recognizing Tom Moroch and top DFW media professionals will be held Thursday, April 5, 2018 at the Dallas Hyatt Regency Hotel at 6:00 PM. For more information about the gala, go to www.allwomeninmedia-dfw.org. Alliance of Women in Media is a national, nonprofit organization of men and women who work in the media and allied fields. Founded in 1951 as American Women in Radio and Television, AWM (formerly American Women in Radio and Television) is proud to represent men and women engaged in all aspects of creating high-quality media and related services. AWM harnesses the promise, passion and power of women in all forms of media to empower career development, engage in thought leadership, and drive positive change for our industry and societal progress.  Press release courtesy of the Alliance for Women in Media.

Six Flags Marketing Vice President James Geiser & Moroch Chief Integrated Media Officer Matt Powell recently teamed up to present a case study about how Six Flags is using data to drive its marketing to the Dallas Chapter of the American Marketing Association. The dynamic duo of Geiser and Powell explained how personalization is becoming a critical component of Six Flags’ marketing efforts and how data plays a central role in all of Six Flags’ marketing decisions. They presented examples of how Six Flags successfully uses local data insights to develop strategies that drove season pass sales, ensured customization and positioned Six Flags for growth.