How Coke Is Targeting Black Consumers

July 1, 2009

Q&A With Yolanda White, Assistant VP of African-American Marketing

Coca-Cola re-established a dedicated African-American marketing group in 2006. The beverage giant has spent the past few years testing programs and conducting market research. And in the first half of this year, those efforts have come to fruition, with four new campaigns for the Dasani and Coca-Cola brands.

"Three years ago, we began to see new evidence of growing population, growing buying and growing power in income," said Yolanda White, assistant VP of African-American marketing. "We also saw significant [interest] in emerging categories, which made this consumer segment that much more viable for us as a company. So we really began to rebuild our strategic focus and realign our organizational capabilities to go after this consumer more holistically."


Ms. White's dedicated group of five people -- three additional employees are shared with the Hispanic-marketing division -- has a seemingly herculean task, working across the company's numerous billion-dollar brands. But Ms. White says the arrangement has its advantages. The group has a deep understanding of the demographic and is able to measure the total impact of African-American marketing efforts. Here, Ms. White also talks more about that, the impact President Barack Obama is having and why general-market agencies are ceasing to exist.

Ad Age: The four campaigns you've done so far this year focus on moms and teens. Why?

Ms. White: Among African-American consumers, African-American moms are the gatekeeper to the household. We over-index in single-family households, and so reaching Mom is critical. Teens really are the future of America, and African-American teens, in particular, have proven to be trendsetters in the U.S. Their ability to shape culture is really critical.

Ad Age: What sorts of results are you seeing from those campaigns?

Ms. White: We're really focused on building loyalty and building share. And our numbers are showing that we're doing both. We are the beverage leader among African-American consumers. And if you look at how we're performing vs. our competition, we are outperforming them on both volume and value. We're seeing our equity numbers grow. One of the things that's not as measurable but is really important is we're also seeing really strong organic integration of our brands in relevant African-American spaces.

Ad Age: What trends do you see in the African-American market?

Ms. White: All consumers right now are experiencing some struggles and strife. We are seeing some of that accelerating with the African-American consumer, in terms of the way that they have to manage time and how they have to manage their family, given that they're maintaining more jobs and balancing at home issues. ... The Obama effect is another trend we're seeing in the marketplace. That's helping African-Americans feel more in tune with Americans and more a part of American society. Another general trend that we are seeing is the fact that multicultural consumers are sharing more of their culture with the total population.

Ad Age: What agencies do you work with?

Ms. White: We work with several agencies. There's no dedicated agency, due to the complexity of managing multiple brands. We have African-American agencies, but we also have a plethora of other agencies that work on the business.

Ad Age: Do you think general-market shops can adequately speak to this demographic?


Ms. White: What is interesting is that, if you look at society today, there really is no general market. The market is really multicultural. It's really important for all agencies to have a pulse on the total population as it exists and on what's happening. If they don't, it really prohibits the agency's ability to be at the forefront of pop culture and to tap into relevant trends, which could have an impact on the long-term growth of a company.

Ad Age: Do you feel that African-American or multicultural shops bring something unique to the table?

Ms. White: Absolutely; we use them. All of our agencies bring something unique.

Ad Age: Are marketers taking the lead in encouraging agencies to diversify?

Ms. White: Diversity as a whole is important for the Coca-Cola Co. And as a company we're in full support of where the advertising-industry efforts are moving, in order to increase their diversity.





The Dean's Notes: Ms. White was my former supervisor at Coca-Cola North America and I learned a great deal from her. She is one of the few corporate executives who is in touch with young america and understands what they want, how they act, and how they consume.

NBA Lockout Would Put $1B in TV Ad Revenue at Stake

Also in Danger: Chunk of $2.7B Licensed Products Market...

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Halfway through the 2010-11 National Basketball Association season, it's already been one of the finest in league history by almost every metric -- and that's just one more reason why a potential lockout and protracted labor negotiation between the owners and the players will threaten far more than simply the bottom line of a financial statement.

Although the National Football League's potential labor dispute is more top of mind -- its collective bargaining agreement with players ends in six weeks -- the NBA is dealing with its own issues. While its current agreement with the players doesn't expire until June 30, both sides are trying to avoid a situation that some sports-marketing experts have termed "more dire" than the NFL labor conflict.

At stake? About $1 billion in TV ad revenue for Walt Disney Co.'s ABC/ESPN and Turner Broadcasting's TNT, the main rights holders for NBA games; sponsors and advertisers that are facing the possibility of a second potential sports-programming platform disappearing; a global stage that Nike (and, to a lesser extent, Reebok) uses to hawk shoes; a huge chunk of the $2.7 billion licensed products market, most of which Adidas makes and sells; and brand equity at a pivotal time for the league, both domestically and internationally.


And don't think it isn't real. Phoenix Suns player Jared Dudley recently tweeted: "If you are in the NBA: I need all NBA players to save there [sic] money. Be prepared to live without a check for at least a year. This is serious."

The NBA is as hot as it's been in years. The buzz began three months before the season even tipped off, when LeBron James announced on live TV last July during "The Decision" that he would be leaving his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat. The league reportedly had a record 50,000 new season-ticket requests. The buzz has continued through the first half of the season with the potential for an NBA Finals between Mr. James and the Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant -- by far the two most marketable players in the league -- as well as the resurgence of big-market teams such as the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls and the emergence of young stars such as Blake Griffin of the Los Angeles Clippers and John Wall of the Washington Wizards.


Attendance at games is flat, down 1% compared to last year, but TV ratings on ESPN and TNT are up a whopping 30%. Advertisers and sponsors have noticed the resurgent fan interest.

The two sponsors that stand to lose the most are the newest ones -- Spanish banking group BBVA and American Express. BBVA, which is looking for increased brand exposure, signed a four-year, $100 million deal with the league this year. And American Express just returned as a sponsor after a five-year absence.

"The problem is this," said one chief marketing officer for an NBA partner. "It's not so much the money that we spend with the league and on the ads, it's how do you fill the hole in the promotional schedule? I mean, you can give me a make-good, but sometimes there's no real way to make good."

TNT clearly has the programming to fill the void if there is no NBA next season, but sports-centric ESPN would have to scramble. Unlike the NBA lockout in 1999, ESPN no longer has the National Hockey League to fall back on. And, according to a report prepared by analysts from RBC Capital, Disney derives 55% of its revenue from sports, primarily from ESPN.

As with the NFL, the NBA dispute is mostly over money. The NBA, claiming it lost $370 million last year, wants to change entirely a system that currently gives the players 57% of the revenue. The league doesn't open its books, so that revenue loss is disputed by the players union.

"Nobody is anxious to have a lockout or a work stoppage," said Neil Pilson, the former CBS Sports president who now runs his own consultancy, Pilson Communications. "From a cable [network] standpoint, a lockout would be manageable. But then you have a lot of goodwill there that's threatened."

And that goes beyond just the U.S. More than 300 million people play basketball recreationally in China, which has a deep fascination with the NBA and its superstars. Mr. Bryant was treated like a rock star -- some might even say a god -- when he played for the U.S. team in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

And what of the sneaker business? The basketball shoe market is a $2.4 billion market. Between the traditional Nike brand and Nike-owned Jordan Brand and Converse, the Swoosh controls 94% market share in basketball shoes. Though it might seem like it, Nike is not an official NBA sponsor.

Nike, through a spokesman, declined to comment. Matt Powell, an analyst with Charlotte, N.C.-based SportsOne Source, said, "Kids are the primary buyers and if kids are still playing ball, it won't have a dramatic impact. But it will have some impact. With no NBA, there's no way for Nike or Reebok to showcase a new guy [in endorsements]."

Story by Rich Thomaselli of www.adage.com

New Wieden & Kennedy Campaign Owes Much to Dos Equis' 'Most Interesting Man'




NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The "Most Interesting Man in the World" has met his match. Well, not really (that's impossible) but Heineken's "The Entrance" is the cornerstone of a new web campaign from Weiden & Kennedy that topped the Viral Chart last week with more than 2 million views.


The 90-second video, featuring a man with over-the-top timing and grace, is supported by several others that give humorous back stories to the scene: "Kung Fu Comback," "The Man with the Eye Patch," "The Perfect Gift" ... you get the idea.

Also new to the chart is another spot, or more accurately a mini-movie, for Lego called "Brick Thief," a sequel of sorts to "Lego Cl!ck" launched almost exactly a year ago, and also created by Pereira & O'Dell. Maybe it's me, but these videos seem incredibly high-budget for something made for the web, a sign of the growing importance of this kind of brand marketing.

The third newcomer was National Geographic Magazine's "7 Billion," a three-minute video promoting a year-long project on global population growth.

If You Can Transform a Brand, You Can Transform Your Agency

Six Principles for Evolving Effectively



As we head into the new year, it's only natural for us to reflect upon the previous one and make plans to improve upon what we accomplished. This often includes resolutions and changes. If you're considering a significant change at your agency, be it anything from a new office building to a merger or acquisition, it may seem like an insurmountable task. But if you've transformed a brand -- a challenge agencies across the industry are asked to undertake every day -- there's no reason why you can't transform your agency, regardless of size.


Beyond the physical and structural changes, here are six guiding principles to lead your transformation. Organizations and brands alike can benefit from these principles, however bold your evolution may be.

1. Decode your DNA. Know who you are. Every agency, just like every brand, has a unique story to tell. If it is the agency's role to carefully and insightfully uncover a brand's core DNA, then you need to do the same with your own brand. You need to honestly assess who you are, what core values define your culture, and what truly differentiates you from your competition to stear your vision, voice and foundation for the future.

2. Share your vision then relentlessly pursue it. Agencies and brands need to be transparent. Transparency allows employees to understand the road map, become a part of the journey and believe it is possible. It is vital to ignite an organization around a shared vision so that its people can take an active role in making it a reality.

3. Build strong advocates. Your agency needs loyalists and advocates, just as brands do. Fuel the loyalists within your organization and build the next generation of leadership. Hire talent that is smarter than you are and complements your culture. While raw talent is exceptional, personal character and cultural fit are just as important. You want advocates to fit in, believe in your purpose and be inspired to achieve it.

4. Every detail matters. Every facet of a rebranding campaign (internal and external) needs to work together and be consistent to achieve effectiveness. The same goes for an agency, which needs to create exceptional ideas and execute them flawlessly.

5. Promote a culture of accountability, collaboration and experimentation. Successful brands are accountable to their customers, but they can afford to experiment once in awhile to achieve greater success. An agency should create an expectation that every effort to reach the goal can't just be good, it must be great. Creativity shouldn't be a department, it should be an expectation. Fostering a collaborative environment (with colleagues and clients) can empower everyone to do his or her personal best and helps achieve optimal results.

6. Make every decision based on what supports the vision and stay the course. Don't be tempted to chase shiny objects. It is critical to base every decision on what's best for the brand and the business in both the short term and long term. Remain focused on your vision throughout your efforts. Don't let your resources be drained by exploring new businesses or partnerships that don't fit where you are trying to go. Keep your focus on what is right for you and your clients.

And remember, transformation does not happen overnight. Enjoy the journey.

Your Followers Are No Measure of Your Influence

Popularity on Twitter or Facebook Is Just That; It's the Ability to Drive Behavior That Matters

By Matthew Creamer


Published: January 03, 2011
 
Since Malcolm Gladwell began popularizing his "Tipping Point" theory 14 years ago, marketers have fantasized about a world in which they can identify a small number of influential folks who can credibly, effectively and cheaply push product for them. In the '90s, that meant makers of the "dead chic" Hush Puppies brand had to channel their inner Margaret Meads and go on "cool hunts" to trendy shops to understand how their oxfords had become suddenly stylish. These days, faced with similar challenges, they might just try to get people with large Twitter followings to post about it. Which would be a really bad idea.


One of the nasty side effects of the rapid growth of social media is that it threatens to warp our understanding of influence. It's only natural that Twitter has given rise to any number of applications that rank users for various criteria, including their overall influence. Many of the 150 million or so of Twitter accounts contain multitudes: a feed of interests, passions and expertise, in many cases attached to a living, breathing, identifiable human whose popularity is neatly summed up by follower counts, the lists he or she is on, and the number of times he or she has been retweeted. But a marketer has to wonder what all that information means, if it adds up to anything more than a popularity contest and what, exactly, does a tweet influence a person to think, believe or do?

It's hard to imagine that Justin Bieber, with his 6.4 million followers, is driving much behavior other than getting people to talk about Justin Bieber, frenetically retweet him, and possibly buy a record. Is that influence?

Klout, an online service that describes itself as nothing less than the "standard of influence," thinks so. Its algorithm gives Mr. Bieber a perfect score of 100. "You can't get any more influential than this," reads his summary. "People hang on your every word, and share your content like no other. You're probably famous in real life and your fans simply can't get enough."

Indeed, Mr. Bieber is famous and, as a YouTube discovery, his fame has been built on social media. He has a prodigious understanding of how to use these tools that helped him rise out of Canadian obscurity before he had to shave. Yet it's hard to imagine how he is a paragon of influence. He simply seems popular.

Some recent research by Duncan Watts and three other researchers shows the problems with popularity. Mr. Watts, now a researcher for Yahoo, caused a stir a few years back with work that challenged the validity of "Tipping Point"-style thinking about the way influence works. Equipped with evidence that showed cascades -- chain reactions where one user passes something to another, and so on -- are nearly impossibly to predict, he argued that, rather than focus on finding a few, highly influential people to spread a message, anyone who wants to "go viral" should be on getting a message to as many people as possible. In other words, you have to hedge your bets and not simply rely on your models of influence, however finely honed they might be.

In a 2009 experiment in Twitter, Mr. Watts found that those findings were transferable to the then 3-year-old microblog. He and fellow Yahoo-er Mr. Mason looked at more than 1.6 million users and 74 million instances of sharing of something, known as "diffusion events." In many cases, the most popular Tweeters generated the biggest cascades. That's no surprise. "However," Messrs. Watts and Mason wrote, "we find that predictions of which particular user or URL will generate large cascades are relatively unreliable. We conclude, therefore, that word-of-mouth diffusion can only be harnessed reliably by targeting large numbers of potential influencers, thereby capturing average effects." In other words, reaching a large number of more ordinary Joes and Janes with a message might be more effective than trying to tap into Bieber fever.

When people try to think past follower count to a more nuanced metric, they might end up with something like what Twinfluence, a rival to Klout, describes as social capital. That metric combines the influence of a tweeter's followers with his followers' followers. Or they end up with something like Klout's amplification metric, which charts the likelihood that a tweet will spark some action. All this sounds nice, except for the fact there is only so much you can do with a tweet. You can retweet it or you can make the tweets one of your favorites or you can use the tweet as a stepping-off point for a conversation. And that's about it.

For those of us in the content game, that's fairly useful. The same goes for marketers who want to talk to their customers or give the appearance that they talk to their customers. For parties with other kinds of goal, that utility is less clear.

Think of Twitter as a game with just a few objectives: earn followers and retweets and clicks on your links. While services like Klout are wonderful at judging the winners on those rules, they're not as good -- even useless -- at providing a means of understanding how that particular performance might be extrapolated out to something as broad as influence. Thinking about this reminds me of studying for the SAT and coming across this bit in a Princeton Review book: "We're not big fans of the SAT. It doesn't measure intelligence. It can't possibly measure your future success in college. The SAT measures one thing, and one thing only: how good you are at taking the SAT."

The same might be said of many current ways of looking at effectiveness on Twitter: They have little respect for how an action on one of those networks might relate to behavior beyond Twitter.

Earlier this year, you may or may not have been swayed by Mr. Gladwell's controversial examination of the limitations of social media to formant consequential political activity. A similar argument can be made for marketing. There's a vast world of behavior beyond the retweet, from verbal word-of-mouth recommendations to actual purchases. Except in few cases, we struggle to monitor them. More than anything else, the limitations of a service like Klout might be a stand in for bigger problems in understanding how social media fits into the marketing's big picture.

I'm not totally sure why I came to remember the SAT line, but it may have to do with the fame-for-fame's sake quality of social media, the best/worst example of which can be found in a marketing stunt from the magazine Fast Company this summer. The Influence Project asked readers to create a profile with a unique URL to be shared by as many people as possible. The winner would go on the cover of the magazine as the most influential person on the web.

The project sparked both an enormous amount of tweeting and Facebooking and a rather nasty backlash. One newspaper dubbed it a "botched social media campaign." A few folks plotted to hijack it. One blogger asked, "What happened to the days when having influence meant producing thought provoking ideas and reactions?" Another, Amber Naslund, VP at the social-media monitoring firm Radian6, wrote: "To me, influence isn't about popularity. Or even reach. It's about the trust, authority, and presence to drive relevant actions within your community that create something of substance."

The final argument against looking at Twitter as a de facto measure of influence is so steeped in common sense, it might offend the intelligence: Simply look at who doesn't spend much time there. One of them is Seth Godin, by any measure, including Ad Age's Power 150, a thought leader for marketers and entrepreneurs and a popular blogger who uses Twitter (and Facebook) only for rote repostings on his blog posts. Celebrities like Kanye West are routinely late to the game and don't seem to suffer much for it.

And then there's Apple. Every marketer's favorite brand to this day still doesn't give a Nano about using Twitter proactively. There was a brief flicker of excitement in July when Scott Forstall, the senior VP in charge of Apple's mobile operating system, signed on and, rare for a less-than-household-name business executive, received a verified account. Today, Klout gives Mr. Forstall a score of 59 and credits him with "high percentage of amplified content." Thirty-six thousand people follow him, while he follows just one, Conan O'Brien. Guess how many tweets the appropriately-named Mr. Forstall has posted.

Not a single one.

How's that for influence?


Courtesy of http://www.adage.com/

IF ENGLISH SOCCER CAN TAKE IN $155M FROM SPONSORED JERSEYS, WHAT ABOUT NBA, NFL?

Mark Cuban: Ads on Uniforms a Matter of 'How Much' Not 'If'


NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- It was just a small blurb in Sports Illustrated magazine's "By the Numbers" section two weeks ago: "$155 million -- Income generated by the 20 English Premier League soccer teams this season by selling ad space on their jerseys."

But those 21 words are causing the four major American sports leagues, its corporate partners and even fans to rethink the idea of sponsor patches on team uniforms.

"It's definitely on the horizon," Mark Cuban, owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks, said in an exchange of e-mails with Advertising Age. "I think it's more an issue of 'how much' rather than 'if' [it happens]."


If the English Premier League can generate $155 million, imagine what the National Football League or the NBA can do. Those are the two sports leagues that have already dipped their respective toes into the sponsorship-on-jerseys debate.


The NBA has been the most aggressive in pushing the agenda, hence Mr. Cuban's opinion that it could be sooner than later for sponsor patches. The league-backed NBA Development League and its Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) both allow teams to sell jersey sponsorships. That exposure has even led some brands not normally associated with sports marketing to put its patch on the coveted uniform. Microsoft, for instance, placed its Bing search engine logo on the front of the WNBA's Seattle Storm's jerseys.


"We are always watching the WNBA and the NBA Development League to see what works and what may be an applicable business practice, and we fully recognize that the presence of corporate branding on game uniforms is a widely accepted practice on the global sports landscape, particularly in soccer," NBA spokesman Mike Bass said. "That being said, the value proposition to include branding on the NBA game uniforms has not yet presented itself."

Mr. Cuban agreed, saying "Find me a multi-year deal at $10 million or more per year and I will make it happen."


The NFL allows teams to sell advertising on practice jerseys, and more than half of the 32 franchises have already done so. The New York Jets signed a deal last year with Atlantic Health to sponsor their practice jerseys as well as their New Jersey-based practice facility. According to Joyce Julius & Associations, an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company that evaluates sports sponsorships, Atlantic Health received nearly $200,000 in free exposure during HBO's four-week telecast of its popular "Hard Knocks" series, which chronicles an NFL team each summer during training camp.


"We are approached annually by major companies who say that NFL jerseys represent the most valuable real estate in sports and inquire about placement of their logos," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said. "But we do not have any plans to do so with game jerseys."


Parity would be an issue, of course. While that $155 million for the 20 English Premier League teams sounds great, the disparity between the top teams and the bottom is wide, just as it likely would be in American sports between franchises in New York and, say, San Jose or Oklahoma City. The EPL's two biggest clubs, Liverpool and Manchester United, take up 40% of that ad revenue -- $31 million a year for Liverpool's deal with British financial services company Standard Chartered, and $30 million annually for Man-U's agreement with insurance carrier Aon. Seven clubs in the EPL earn less than $1 million annually for shirt sponsorship deals.

This isn't a recent issue, either. As leagues and teams have struggled to find new sources of revenue, the idea of putting sponsor patches on uniforms has simmered on the back burner, with an occasional switch to a front burner boil.

In 2009, MLB allowed sponsor patches on team USA jerseys at the World Baseball Classic.

In 2004, MLB tried to put the logo for the film "Spider-Man 2" on the bases as a promotion tool for the film, until a public outcry over the sanctity of the game and the field forced the league to rethink that decision.

As far back as 1999, Howard Smith, then VP-marketing for MLB, told The New York Times that the league was "talking from A to Z about our on-field programs, and bringing in additional sponsors in other formats than we have now. We've talked about everything. But we're not close to anything."

And they're still not.

In a statement emailed to Advertising Age, an MLB spokesman wrote: "Baseball has a longstanding policy of not allowing corporate advertising on our uniforms for non-international competitions. We are continuing to monitor what appears to be an increase in the trend that places non-manufacturer corporate marks on uniforms."

National Hockey League spokesman Kerry McGovern said, "At this time, we'd prefer not to comment."

MYSPACE SEARCHES FOR AGENCY TO LEAD REBRANDING EFFORT

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Struggling social network MySpace is gearing up for a relaunch of the site later this year, and as part of that it has begun canvassing adland for an agency to devise a major branding campaign.

Industry executives say the News Corp.-owned company recently put out a request for proposals to several creative shops, asking them to help MySpace get the word out about the relaunch, which will include new features to be introduced in stages starting this summer and a revamped site and logo in the fall.

Overseeing the marketing effort is newly hired Senior VP-Marketing David Donegan, who joined the company in May from Santa Monica, Calif., agency Kastner & Partners Interactive, where he headed accounts for Red Bull and Qualcomm. Consultancy Select Resources International is assisting in the search.

MySpace hasn't done much consumer marketing. Most of its 2009 media spending -- only $5.1 million in U.S. measured media, according to Kantar Media -- was geared toward the launch of MySpace Music, including a billboard in Times Square.

A MySpace spokesperson said it's too early to say how much MySpace will end up spending on the campaign, and whether it will include TV as well as online media. "This would be our first big branding campaign," the spokesperson said.

MySpace has a lot riding on the relaunch and branding campaign, and it will be a tall order for the agency selected for the task. One need look only as far as AOL's efforts to find a buyer for Bebo, another troubled social network flattened in the path of Facebook, which just crossed a half billion registered users around the globe.

Global unique visitors to MySpace have fallen from 127 million in April of 2009 to 111 million in April 2010, according to ComScore. Global visits to Facebook grew from 307 million to 519 million during the same period.

MySpace itself admitted the task is "risky" just last month at a TechCrunch conference, because the redo will entail a massive overhaul of MySpace's core functionality. New products will include tools to enable discovery of content, trending and targeting products, dashboards for musicians and a better understanding of mobile as the remote control of young people's lives.

Also likely to be targeted with the relaunch? Gamers. The company has said that a third of its users engage daily in games with some 28 million active app users on the site.

WHY LONG-FORM ADS ARE THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE

Short Films, Music Videos Featuring Products Engage Viewers With Brands by Providing Entertainment...

Since Lady Gaga's nearly 10-minute video "Telephone" made its debut a few weeks back, it's garnered 28 million views on YouTube, been watched on MTV.com nearly 500,000 times and shared on Facebook and tweeted directly from the pop star's site some 150,000 times.

LET'S MAKE A SANDWICH: Gaga pauses to whip up lunch with Wonder Bread, Miracle Whip. The video-slash-short film is easily one of the most-popular pieces of longer-form content in recent times, boosting visibility for brands like Miracle Whip and dating site PlentyofFish.com that made appearances in the video. But it's also just one in a growing batch of examples that signal marketers' desire to engage with consumers for longer than the standard 30 seconds.

"We've definitely seen an upswing in longer-form ads," said Matt Miller, president and CEO, AICP. "While advertisers are looking for efficiencies in short-format/multiple platforms, they are also looking for new ways to engage consumers. ... One way to do that is through short films and fun pieces that create awareness of the brand, and reward consumers."

While long-form certainly has precedent -- from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in 1983 to BMW Films in 2005 -- industry-watchers all agree there's been a spike in such pieces. Kraft Foods recently created a 27-minute crowdsourced film to advertise its Lacta chocolate bar in Greece; electronic brand Philips collaborated with Ridley Scott Films to create "Parallel Lines," a set of short movies that acted as a global ad campaign to tout the cinematic viewing experience offered by Philips' range of TVs; and U.K. grocery store chain Waitrose ran a three-and-a-half-minute spot that took up the entire span of commercial breaks and featured the country's celeb chefs Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal. That's in addition to the laundry list of luxury fashion brands -- from Oliver Peoples, Pringle of Scotland, Opening Ceremony and Rodarte -- that are increasingly using movie-like ads featuring celebrities donning their clothing and accessories.

"We all are learning the rules, and it's that entertainment is king," said Roger Camp, chief creative officer at Publicis & Hal Riney.

That insight is a key one that agencies and their clients are using in their quest to triumph over consumers' shrinking attention spans, a particularly acute challenge with younger demographics. A Kaiser Family Foundation report earlier this year found that while media consumption is increasing overall -- it's gone from six hours and 21 minutes spent with media in 2004 to seven hours and 38 minutes today -- more multitasking is going on as media gets more fragmented. The foundation, in fact, estimates that because more people are using more than one medium at a time, consumers are actually managing to pack 10 minutes and 45 seconds of media content into those 7 and one-half hours.

Shrinking attention spans have dictated the shrinkage of media segments too, from 60-second spots to 30-, 15- and five- and even one-second spots to a degree that now there's a bit of a pushback to create work that really stands apart, according to industry execs. "That common rule of trying to keep it under a minute and half at the long end of the spectrum is being demolished and now it's about making sure that the entertainment value is there," said Mr. Camp. "And rather than having the brand talk about itself for a minute and half, what we've learned as advertisers is that the hard sell can't be a component of something you watch for a long time."

Enjoyable viewing experience

Luxury eyewear maker Oliver Peoples recently released its third branded film, an online ad in which rock star Shirley Manson and actor Elijah Wood model a variety of sunglasses and fancy frames while swimming in a pool and walking about a posh home. "The feedback was incredibly positive and people genuinely seemed to enjoy getting to experience the brand in a new and different way," said Michelle Lynn Walnum, senior director-brand image and communication at Oliver Peoples. "Cut to today, where the internet, social sites and viral media in general are growing wider and faster, we found that this was an opportunity to engage with our current customers as well as introduce our brand to new potential clientele. This film gives us the opportunity to create marketing with discreet branding that has always been central to our brand."

Three reasons you should consider doing more long-form ads

■ It's a way to stand out among the sea of 30-second spots and deliver entertainment value to consumers.

■ The economics are changing; longer spots don't necessarily cost more because they can be repurposed and there's less need to buy media.

■ There are a number of good case studies to reference in making your long-form ads more successful.

Said Matt Bijarchi, executive producer of media arts at TBWA/Chiat/Day: "With the proliferation of media, very few things are good, and when it's good, you get more attention."

When Hulu did an experiment about 18 months ago, giving consumers the choice of ad to watch, either a two-minute ad before an online program or a couple of 30-second ads in the midst of a program, a whopping 88% of Hulu viewers opted for the two-minute ad. A bevy of marketers bought the long-form opt-in ads on Hulu, including Sprint, Capital One, Hyatt, Paramount Pictures, American Express and Columbia TriStar. The high opt-in rates suggested that because consumers are selecting the ads, they are more likely to be engaged with them. "The opt-in rate is proving this is something people want," Hulu told Ad Age at the time.

Besides consumers' willingness to watch, there are other practical factors fueling the growth of long-form ads, industry execs said, citing the ease of distribution of long-form content in the digital era and a growing number of case studies marketers can point to that allow others to jump on the bandwagon. And then there's the cost. At a time when marketers' ad budgets are squeezed and agencies are being asked to do more work for less, the cost proposition of long-form work becomes more favorable.

According to Mr. Bijarchi, the average cost of a 30-second ad today is about $380,000, and agencies are learning that longer than that doesn't have to be looked at as more expensive, particularly if the ads are spread on the internet and the cost of buying media is negligible. "It doesn't have to be looked at as more expensive ... you're spending the money on the long-form stuff and then you're cutting to make the commercials," he said. TBWA recently created a 30-minute film for Absolut Vodka shot by celebrity director Spike Jonze that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, but was later repurposed into 30-second and 60-second segments to be used as trailers, or for other ad purposes.

So with all this increased time consumers are spending with ads, is it really driving connections with brands, and more importantly, purchases? According to Ms. Walnum of Oliver Peoples, yes.

"The traffic to our site has doubled each of the last three years and we attribute this in part to the demand for our short films. More importantly to us, the time a potential consumer is spending on the site continues to go up, which we believe leads to a better and deeper brand experience, and of course an increase to our e-commerce sales."

Brands get creative with long form

Brands are learning that even though media segments are getting smaller and smaller, consumers enjoy engaging with long-form content -- when it's good, of course. Here are some recent examples of what brands are doing when it comes to making advertising that's longer than a 30-second spot, and a lot more subtle to boot.

PRINGLE OF SCOTLAND

The iconic brand presented the spring/summer collection with a film starring Academy Award-winning actress Tilda Swinton, who walks through the Scottish highlands wearing the expensive clothes.

ABSOLUT VODKA

The booze brand created a 15-minute commercial for Absolut featuring Jay-Z. The ad-slash-documentary, which was called NY-Z, was by TBWA/Chiat/Day and directed by Danny Clinch.

Click Here to Watch NY-Z http://bit.ly/cDuzv0

RODARTE

Photographer Todd Cole created a thriller-cum-high-fashion drama called "Aanteni" as a way to promote Rodarte's spring 2010 collection. Set in California on property belonging to PayPal founder Elon Musk, it shows the designer clothing throughout the film.

NIKE

In a ploy to reach its fans who are also music lovers, Nike, with the help of agency Wieden & Kennedy, Tokyo, created a three-minute ad that shows us the art of dropping beats using sneakers.

WAITROSE

In March, high-end British grocery store chain Waitrose broke an ad that took up an entire three-and-one-half-minute commercial break. It took the form of a mini-cooking show featuring celebrity chefs cooking a meat dish, and offered tips on how consumers can make it.

KRAFT FOODS

For Lacta, a chocolate brand popular in Greece, Kraft and Ogilvy One crowdsourced a 27-minute branded movie that initially was going to run only online but spurred so much talk that a local TV station offered to air it for free.

OPENING CEREMONY

Jason Schwartzman and Kirsten Dunst star in this short film featuring clothes by hip store Opening Ceremony and music by Schwartzman's label, Coconut Records.

Courtesy of New York (AdAge.com)

AGENCY REPORT: REVENUE SLUMPS 7.5%, JOBS AT 16-YEAR LOW (WWW.ADAGE.COM)

Despite Tumbling Agency Revenue in 2009, There Are Early Indications of Growth and Renewal...

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- First the good news: The agency business is starting to see at least tepid growth. Analysts expect 2010 combined worldwide revenue for the top four agency companies to rise about 2% on an organic basis, factoring out currency shifts and acquisitions.

Now the bad news: Revenue for U.S. marketing-communications agencies -- advertising, marketing services, media, health care, public relations -- tumbled 7.5% to $28.4 billion in 2009, according to the Ad Age Agency Report.

That's the sharpest revenue decline in the 66 years Ad Age has produced the Agency Report.

The revenue decrease essentially matched a 7.8% drop in 2009 employment at U.S. advertising/marketing-services firms.

U.S. digital agencies eked out a 0.5% revenue gain in 2009, according to the Agency Report. Health-care agency revenue slipped 1.6%. Fortunes sank in every other agency sector.

Revenue down

Revenue for traditional ad agencies dropped 9.3%, mirroring an 8.9% decline last year in U.S. ad agency employment. Media agency revenue plunged 10.3% in a year when U.S. measured media spending (as tracked by WPP's Kantar Media) fell 12.3%.

Revenue for customer-relationship-management/direct-marketing agencies declined 7.4%, outperforming ad agencies as marketers put more emphasis on data-driven marketing.

Promotion-agency revenue tumbled 13.1%, depressed by lower spending on event marketing.

The Agency Report ranks 883 U.S. agencies, down from 912 agencies on last year's report. The drop-off partly reflects casualties of the downturn. Among agencies to close: Cliff Freeman & Partners, a former high-flying creative shop that shut its doors last October.

This is an industry in constant renewal. With economic prospects brightening, some high-profile agency execs -- including JWT's Ty Montague and Rosemarie Ryan; Saatchi & Saatchi's Gerry Graf; and Vigilante's Larry Woodard -- decamped this year to launch new ventures.

Among highlights from the report:

■ For the first time in the history of the Agency Report, the ranking's biggest agency is far removed from the clique and clack of Madison Avenue. The largest U.S. agency is Arkansas-based Acxiom, a major player in data-centric direct marketing and customer-relationship management. Acxiom Corp. isn't a new name; it's been in business since 1969. High-profile clients include Procter & Gamble Co., AT&T and Macy's.

■ Publicis Groupe, boosted by its acquisition of digital powerhouse Razorfish, moved past Interpublic Group of Cos. to become the world's third-largest agency company, behind WPP and Omnicom Group.

■ Dentsu ranked as the world's largest consolidated agency network. Dentsu's network includes New York agencies 360i (acquired in January 2010) and McGarryBowen.

■ Omnicom's Fleishman-Hillard ranked as the nation's largest PR agency, based on Ad Age revenue estimates. Edelman scored as the world's largest PR agency. This marks the first PR agency ranking published by Ad Age since 2002.

Publicly held agency companies sometimes prefer not to reveal revenue for individual agencies, so revenue figures for those agencies and some independent shops are based on Ad Age DataCenter estimates. Ad Age revised some 2008 estimates, mainly to reconcile revenue with figures that agency firms disclose.

U.S. digital agencies eked out a 0.5% revenue gain in 2009, according to the Agency Report. Health-care agency revenue slipped 1.6%. Fortunes sank in every other agency sector.

Revenue down

Revenue for traditional ad agencies dropped 9.3%, mirroring an 8.9% decline last year in U.S. ad agency employment. Media agency revenue plunged 10.3% in a year when U.S. measured media spending (as tracked by WPP's Kantar Media) fell 12.3%.

Revenue for customer-relationship-management/direct-marketing agencies declined 7.4%, outperforming ad agencies as marketers put more emphasis on data-driven marketing.

Promotion-agency revenue tumbled 13.1%, depressed by lower spending on event marketing.

The Agency Report ranks 883 U.S. agencies, down from 912 agencies on last year's report. The drop-off partly reflects casualties of the downturn. Among agencies to close: Cliff Freeman & Partners, a former high-flying creative shop that shut its doors last October.

This is an industry in constant renewal. With economic prospects brightening, some high-profile agency execs -- including JWT's Ty Montague and Rosemarie Ryan; Saatchi & Saatchi's Gerry Graf; and Vigilante's Larry Woodard -- decamped this year to launch new ventures.

Among highlights from the report:

■ For the first time in the history of the Agency Report, the ranking's biggest agency is far removed from the clique and clack of Madison Avenue. The largest U.S. agency is Arkansas-based Acxiom, a major player in data-centric direct marketing and customer-relationship management. Acxiom Corp. isn't a new name; it's been in business since 1969. High-profile clients include Procter & Gamble Co., AT&T and Macy's.

■ Publicis Groupe, boosted by its acquisition of digital powerhouse Razorfish, moved past Interpublic Group of Cos. to become the world's third-largest agency company, behind WPP and Omnicom Group.

■ Dentsu ranked as the world's largest consolidated agency network. Dentsu's network includes New York agencies 360i (acquired in January 2010) and McGarryBowen.

■ Omnicom's Fleishman-Hillard ranked as the nation's largest PR agency, based on Ad Age revenue estimates. Edelman scored as the world's largest PR agency. This marks the first PR agency ranking published by Ad Age since 2002.

Publicly held agency companies sometimes prefer not to reveal revenue for individual agencies, so revenue figures for those agencies and some independent shops are based on Ad Age DataCenter estimates. Ad Age revised some 2008 estimates, mainly to reconcile revenue with figures that agency firms disclose.

Source: http://www.adage.com/

WHAT'S A SPORT? GATORADE REDEFINES TO BROADEN TARGET

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The pressure is on Gatorade to perform this year, following a tough 2009 that had analysts, beverage industry watchers and the ad industry believing the granddaddy of sports drinks had lost its mojo.

NEW LINES: G-series drinks cater to pre-, during- and post-activity. The turnaround hinges on a new campaign, an overhauled product lineup including before and after workout drinks, and a broadened definition of sports to include things such as surfing and acrobatics to lift Gatorade, which saw a 15.5% decline in volume last year. Executives have committed to delivering 4% to 6% revenue growth, following a job-led economic recovery, an ambitious target being watched closely by analysts who want to see signs of a turnaround by year's end. It is also being viewed by some industry insiders as an important moment in the career of Massimo d'Amore, CEO of PepsiCo's Americas Beverages Group.

While Mr. d'Amore manages an entire portfolio of brands -- he's been involved in many of the changes in the beverage division over the past 18 months -- he's said that Gatorade has gotten a lot of his "focus and attention." The bets Gatorade is making are high-profile, given it is the leader in the sports drink category and PepsiCo's fourth-largest brand worldwide. And its clear Mr. d'Amore has been intimately involved in the development and execution of the multi-year effort.

"The success of G is closely tied to the future of Massimo's career at PepsiCo," said one executive familiar with the company.

PepsiCo chose not to comment on outsiders' views of the company. But at a recent investor meeting, CEO Indra Nooyi expressed confidence in the direction of Gatorade and Mr. d'Amore.

Waiting for results

This year, 12 products -- some new, some repackaged -- are hitting store shelves; new distribution deals with GNC and Whole Foods have been struck; the target consumer has been tweaked to include action sports, surfers and dancers; and teens are receiving plenty of attention.

Analysts and industry watchers who have been privy to PepsiCo's pitch say it makes sense. But they're still looking for results, and fast.

The first proof point will be a campaign set to launch later this month. While last year's campaign was focused on image, this year's push will need to focus on educating consumers about the changes to the product lineup.

Two new lines, G Series and G Series Pro, offer athletes solutions for pre-, during- and post-activity. Gatorade believes the pre- and post-workout market is sizable and will provide incremental buying occasions, even as some are questioning why consumers would toss three different products in their gym bags.

"The average consumer is already consuming during the before-and-after occasion," said Sarah Robb-O'Hagan, chief marketing officer at Gatorade. "Different consumers have different nutritional needs on game day vs. training days. What we've seen as we've developed these products is different consumers mixing and matching their own regime to meet their needs."

Attracting teens

The G Series' core target is the 13- to 17-year-old high-school athlete, while G Series Pro's target is the 16- to 24-year-old who is in the business of being athletic, whether as an elite athlete or personal trainer.

Capturing the teen consumer has been identified as a priority for the brand, with Ms. Robb-O'Hagan, conceding that teens thought the brand was dated. Last year's shift to G was meant to grab their attention. With that accomplished, she said, the brand has been working with teens to test and promote the new products. Through May, a mobile locker room is making its way to high schools, showcasing the G Series products.

"What we're focusing on this year, from a marketing standpoint, is making sure that the high-school athlete understands the G Series, understands the three-part series," she said. "If we land that strongly with the teen consumers, we have a lot of opportunity."

Gatorade is also expanding its idea of who is an athlete, looking to surfers, gymnasts and skateboarders. In the past, the brand has focused on traditional sports and leaned more male than female.

 

What goes hand-in-hand with that is the elimination of lifestyle users, those who boosted the brand in the earlier part of the decade. "Gatorade did such a great job with its marketing that it attracted consumers who were drinking it because it was cool, not for exercise rehydration," said John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest. "Gatorade lost a lot of that volume last year. It should be able to grow from a new base as it engages and re-engages consumers who want an exercise-hydration beverage."

Growth potential

And, despite competition from brands outside the category such as Vitaminwater, Gatorade and the sports-drink category in general both have growth potential, Mr. Sicher said. According to Beverage Digest, the sports drink category was worth $7.5 billion in 2008. Sports-drink volume had been tracking up 17% between 2004 and 2009, according to Beverage Marketing Corp., but fell 12.3% between 2008 and 2009.

But can Gatorade return to its glory days, the days of iconic marketing campaigns such as "Be like Mike"?

"Gatorade's glory days were about athletics, but it was also a lifestyle beverage. What they're saying is it shouldn't go back to that," said Mr. Faucher. "All the line extensions, that's not the way it's supposed to be going forward. That means you're simply not going to get it to grow the way it did."

Execs argue that there is still plenty of room for growth, however. The brand's research shows that it has 27% penetration among the 68 million performance athletes it has traditionally focused on, and just 12% penetration among the 55 million fitness athletes it is now setting its sites on.

"We're segmenting to grow," Ms. Robb-O'Hagan said. "Instead of focusing on only one hydration product, we're really starting to segment it down and meet different needs for different athletes."

AOL, Twitter, BofA, and Ford Join Ad Age's Digital Conference April 13-14 in New York

Marketers, technology mavens and internet entrepreneurs will converge on April 13 and 14 at the fourth annual Ad Age Digital Conference in New York to connect the dots between innovation and business results and discuss their views on marketing and where it's headed.

Jim Farley Jim Farley, group VP-global marketing at Ford Motor Co., will join Esther Lee, senior VP of brand marketing and advertising at AT&T; Anne Finucane, global strategy and marketing officer at Bank of America; and Erin Nelson, senior VP and chief marketing officer, Dell to talk about how during critical times in their industries they've tapped technological innovation in their own products and adopted new approaches to communications using digital and social media to tell their stories.

Anne Finucane AOL CEO Tim Armstrong will interview Ms. Finucane about what they have in common when it comes to digital content and audiences and discuss how the historic marketer-and-media-company relationship has evolved. Later, Hal Varian, Google's chief economist, will talk about the role data and analysis plays when it comes to experimentation in business decision-making. Search advertising ushered in a new level of data and accountability to digital marketing; now marketers are demanding the same level of accountability for other forms of advertising.

In a highly anticipated talk, Twitter Chief Operating Officer Dick Costolo will talk about how brands can work with Twitter to get their message heard, as well as tap into the trove of real-time consumer data being generated there day-by-day, minute-by-minute. And later, Yahoo's principal research scientist, Duncan Watts, will challenge your notion of influencers.

Ad Age's Digital Conference is the place that connects the marketing, media and technology communities. To that end, speakers like Ben Malbon, founding partner of BBH Labs, Jason Fried, author of 37Signals, and Colleen Decourcy, chief digital officer of TBWA Worldwide, will also touch on what it means to be an ad agency in 2010 -- and what agencies and Silicon Valley can learn from each other. Topics will cover mobile, creative, social networks, branded content, search, distribution and gaming, and the conference is expected to draw more than 500 industry executives.

The two-day event also marks the launch of Ad Age's Viral Video Awards, held in conjunction with Visible Measures and YouTube. The event, held at the Highline Ballroom on April 13, is the official watering hole after the conference's first day.

COVERING THE MAD MEN: ADVERTISING AGE AT 40

Back when Don Draper was swilling Scotch in his corner office, debating how to solve Lucky Strike's marketing conundrums, Ad Age was all over in the industry. And it was no young pub -- in 1970 the publication was already 40 years old.

In this video from 1970, unearthed from the Ad Age archives, Jack Graham, then-editor of Advertising Age; Sid Bernstein, long-time editor and publisher of Ad Age; and G.D. Crain Jr., who founded Ad Age and its parent company, Crain Communications, discuss Ad Age's first 40 years with Rance Crain, G.D.'s son, who remains Ad Age's editor in chief today.

And while a lot has changed since then, some things haven't. In the 23rd minute, G.D. Crain talks about the power of supplying "a needed and useful type of business information" -- the reason for Ad Age's existence today -- and "that a publication doing that job would be successful. ... I felt that if such a publication attracted the readers that represented the buying power of the market there would be no problem on advertising."

Mr. Crain launched Advertising Age in 1930. "I didn't take the depression into account," he said. "Fortunately nobody told me we were going to have one of that length and duration or perhaps I wouldn't have had the nerve to start something under those auspices."

Other highlights?


Around the six-minute mark Sid Bernstein recounts how he joined Ad Age -- he was second choice for a job as "office boy." Not bad for a guy who turned out to be a longtime editor and then publisher.

Around 12:30 or so they talk about the interplay between Washington and the business press. Ad Age established coverage of Washington in 1939. While it was never an advertising center or considered of any consequence in the field until the New Deal. Herbert Hoover, as Secretary of Commerce, encouraged interaction with the business press.

At 17 minutes G.D. Crain remembered one of his early advertisers: Esquire. Its ads supplanted a back-page illustrated account of the news, creating an ad position on the back cover of Advertising Age that Esquire used every issue for a number of years.

COMING EVENTS: THE AD AGE DIGITAL CONFERENCE

DIGITAL IS NO LONGER A CATEGORY; IT'S A WAY OF LIFE

A constant flow of innovation and information has changed the way we communicate not only with each other, but also how marketers reach consumers. Are you ready for this new world?

Ad Age's Digital Conference offers deep discussions of digital's influence on marketing and consumer behavior and insights into how the world's top companies are putting consumers and big ideas at the center of marketing and communications plans. You'll hear from the world's top marketers who are often the economic drivers of the latest internet technologies and learn how the real world is becoming more interactive (and how the internet world is becoming more real), how brands can build and tap communities and how offline and online can work together to increase the value of both. Join us for the most important digital event of the year.

AD AGE DIGITAL VIRAL VIDEO AWARDS

Following the first day of the Conference, Advertising Age and Visible Measures will debut the Ad Age Digital Viral Video Awards. We'll present the top viral videos of the last year, sliced and diced and presented with a unique tone based on Visible Measures' data sets. Cocktails will be flowing, there will be plenty to nibble on, and, of course, your favorite brand-sponsored funnies from the web will be rolling:

Tuesday, April 13, 7:30pm - 10:30pm

Highline Ballroom


431 West 16th St, NYC


$100*

Topics will include:



CMO POV

Hear straight from the marketing chiefs about the landscape in digital integration, marketing transformation and what they expect from partners in this new era.

OPERATIONS


How has technology changed the way we do business? As we get better versed in living digitally, what companies are winning by transforming their mindsets internally?

CREATIVE


When will innovative, creative work break through in display advertising? Has it already? What's a creative's role in a landscape with nearly limitless product and service possibilities?

SOCIAL NETWORKING


We're all in; now what? How can marketers make the most out of their social media efforts and attain meaningful relationships with consumers?

MOBILE


After the year of the App Store, Android's begun to flourish, and Research In Motion is strong as ever. The robust, vibrant mobile web has arrived-what are you going to do about it?

INTEGRATION


Truly working together with multiple partners to find consumers in every potential area is still massively valuable. How are the dynamics of these collaborations changing?

VENTURE CAPITAL


What can marketers learn from startups? And vice versa? As so much of digital culture leads back to advertising, are there too many noses in the trough?

MEDIA MIX


Is it time for your brand to become a media channel? Where will tomorrow's consumers be entertained? The answers may surprise you.

Tuesday APRIL 13 & Wednesday APRIL 14, 2010
Click here to register: http://adage.com/digital2010/

SUCCESSFUL BRANDS DO A GOOD JOB OF SATISFYING PEOPLE'S 10 BASIC DESIRES

Brands spend more than $450 billion each year to influence us. They wouldn't spend that kind of money unless they knew something we didn't know.

The most-successful brands don't focus on what we need; they focus on what we want. We need a credit card; we want an American Express Black card. We need a cellphone; we want the yet-to-be-released iPhone 4G.

Fortunately for brands, when it comes to identifying what people want, we aren't particularly complex. The human mind seeks to satisfy 10 primary wants. Direct your actions toward meeting as many as possible, and your brand will grow exponentially.

So what do people want, exactly?

1. To feel safe and secure.This is reinforced through both the physical structure of the brain and our physical environment, making it one of the strongest motivating forces in our lives. The amygdale is an area of the brain whose primary purpose is to protect us. Whenever we sense fear or danger, or that things are not safe or secure, it fires. This works in conjunction with our long-term memory, which continuously references and longs for the safety and security we received as children. When Allstate tells us we're in good hands with them, it appeals to this desire for safety and security. Who else? Volvo, OnStar, ADP, Geico, Johnson & Johnson.

2. To feel comfortable.We all want to feel comfortable. We want to feel good, relaxed, we want it to be easy. Our brains are constantly asking, if I do this, how will I feel? We are attracted to what makes us feel good, and this is often what is most comfortable and easy -- brands such as Cracker Barrel, Rockport, Godiva and Dole (what's easier than bagged lettuce?).

3. To be cared for and connected to others.It is human nature to want to feel that someone cares for us, that we have friends and that people enjoy our company. Humans are genetically predisposed to want to be together and to be connected. It is one of our evolutionary traits. And by observing, interacting and engaging with others, our mirror neurons allow us to learn from one another and feel what others are feeling. Think about recent communication campaigns from Olive Garden, Budweiser, Pizza Hut and Mitsubishi's Eclipse. Further, this is one of the key wants social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace meet.

4. To be desired by others.Some believe that all human motivation comes down to wanting to be desired by others. Freud popularized this concept pitting the id against the superego and ego. And even though brands have been targeting this want since the beginning -- and people are aware of brands' efforts in this area -- it has not lost any of its effectiveness. Axe can't make their message to guys any clearer: use our products and you'll be irresistible. And how about Michelob Ultra, Viagra, Cadillac, Old Spice and Victoria's Secret?

5. To be free to do what we want.The desire to be free has been a guiding principal of humankind for the past 200,000 years. Throughout history, societies have banded together to fight for their freedom, from early civilizations in Greece, through the dark ages and Renaissance, the French and American Revolutions, and the abolition of slavery and both world wars. The desire to be free is such a dominant human want that, time after time, we have given our lives to satisfy it. Financial brands such as Fidelity, Citi and Mastercard were built by focusing on this want, as were brands such as Harley-Davidson, Southwest, Nutrisystem and even Norwegian Cruise Lines.

6. To grow and become more.Humans, unlike animals, do not come programmed with the skills we need. We begin as blank slates, yet within the first five years of our lives, we learn to perform many of the skills we will use throughout our lifetime. But then what happens? Is there ever another five-year period where we grow as much? Most would say no, and yet our brains are conditioned from childhood to grow and learn. Because of this, our mind is constantly striving to satisfy the function it has been conditioned to perform: to grow and become more. When you think of Monster, Kindle, Bally and Kaplan, don't they all brilliantly leverage this want to their advantage?

7. To serve others and give back.More than 60 million people performed more than 8 billion hours of service last year. Why? As children we are fully dependent on our parents. Those early memories of our mothers and fathers serving our every need, unselfishly giving to protect, care and nurture, are deeply ingrained in our minds and condition us to want to serve others and give back. Therefore, we tend to feel good when we are making others feel good, unselfishly focusing on others. This want competes against many of our other more self-focused wants, causing an unsettling feeling when we too frequently focus on ourselves. What comes to mind when you think about Prius, Livestrong, Timberland, Newman's Own, Make-a-Wish Foundation and Susan G. Komen for the Cure?

8. To be surprised and excited.The amount of stimuli that our senses can process throughout the course of a day is remarkable. While our perceptual register filters the vast majority of these stimuli, what almost always gets through is what surprises and excites us. Stimuli that could potentially cause ecstasy or anxiety are the first things to grab our attention -- Red Bull, Las Vegas tourism, Disney, De Beers.

9. To believe there is a higher purpose.Most people identify with a particular religion, believe in a god in some form and believe that when we die, there is something more. We deeply want to believe there is a higher purpose. There is not a single more important belief that has such universal acceptance yet completely lacks any form of scientific evidence. But because we so deeply want to believe, anything that can possibly support this belief is powerfully motivating. When the Marines show us a wall of soldiers standing guard over our country and ask us if we have what it takes to be among the few and the proud, they are offering us a higher purpose.

10. To feel that they matter.This is humankind's greatest want -- that they matter. That they are worthy of attention, affection and love. It is an evolutionary trait. Released in large amounts during labor, oxytocin, a neurotransmitter, bonds the mother to a child, making it nearly impossible not to want to care for the newborn. Infants who do not receive this attention can succumb to failure-to-thrive syndrome, causing premature death. So the fact that we matter is essential to our survival. We have been conditioned from birth to believe that we matter. But as we get older, the oxytocin wears off and we feel less and less that we matter. We then spend the rest of our lives trying to get back this feeling that we once felt in such abundance, and brands such as American Express, Lexus, Rolex and Starbucks help us remember that we matter.