The Alignment Between Customer Experiences and Marketing

Over the last decade, thanks to social media, I have had the privilege of meeting a myriad of amazing marketing, branding, customer experience, leadership, and social media experts. One of these experts is Dan Gingiss from Chicago. We recently discussed customer experience marketing, and highlights follow Dan’s bio.

Dan Gingiss is an international keynote speaker and customer experience coach who believes that a remarkable customer experience can be your best marketing. His 20-year professional career has consistently focused on delighting customers, spanning multiple disciplines including customer experience, marketing, social media, and customer service at companies such as McDonald’s, Discover and Humana. Dan is the author of two books, The Experience Maker: How To Create Remarkable Experiences That Your Customers Can’t Wait To Share (released in September) and Winning at Social Customer Care: How Top Brands Create Engaging Experiences on Social Media. He also hosts the Experience This! podcast and The Experience Maker Show, and was a regular contributor to Forbes. Check out his website at www.dangingiss.com, and follow on Twitter at @dgingiss.

QUESTION: Your website features this quote: "A Remarkable Customer Experience Is Your Best Marketing." How can a brand accomplish this on a consistent basis?
DAN GINGISS: When we create positive experiences for our customers, they naturally want to tell other people about them. This is because most of the experiences that we have with brands are average at best, and no one talks about average. The good news is that it's not very hard to differentiate your brand based on customer experience. It simply requires looking at every interaction your customers have with the company, and focusing as much time (and money) on your existing customers as you do on acquiring new ones.

QUESTION: Those of us who live in the marketing and customer experience worlds have heard the Jeff Bezos empty chair story many times. What does this mean to you?

(Check out the story here: https://www.inc.com/john-koetsier/why-every-amazon-meeting-has-at-least-one-empty-chair.html)
 
DAN GINGISS: One of the best compliments I received in my professional career was from the chief digital officer of Discover when he recruited me to head up digital customer experience. He said that he had observed me in meetings and that I always had the proverbial customer hat on. I always looked at business problems from a customer perspective. That insight actually changed my entire career path.
 
The empty chair tactic is great, as are the chairs that literally say “Customer” in Comcast's conference rooms and executive offices. But these become unnecessary when every employee realizes that they have a direct or indirect impact on the customer experience and must think through decisions and implementations with the customer in mind.

QUESTION: Since March 2020, which brands have stood out by providing excellent customer service during the covid pandemic?
DAN GINGISS: Charles Schwab impressed me early on in the pandemic by identifying my brokerage-specific needs (help navigating through a volatile stock market) versus the standard “enhanced cleaning procedures.” Once grocery stores and retailers figured out curbside pickup, that became a convenient enhancement that I believe is here to stay post-pandemic. Medical and dental practices did a great job of reinventing the patient experience as well.
 
QUESTION: What customer experience metric should every brand use, and why?
DAN GINGISS: Customer retention. Most companies have what I like to call a “leaky bucket,” whereby customers are leaving without even saying why. And usually, they’re headed for the competition. The leaky bucket is extraordinarily expensive, since we all know it costs much more to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one.

On the flip side, the more customers we can keep, the more revenue we generate both from them and from their referrals. Customer retention is also a great complement to traditional CX measurements like Net Promoter Score because while the latter tells us what the customer says, the former tracks what they actually do.
 
QUESTION: To quote Marilyn Suttle (@marilynsuttle on Twitter), "The secret to providing exemplary customer service is making it the priority and part of every employee’s job description." Sounds easy on paper, but difficult in execution. How do you execute this?
DAN GINGISS: I’d probably substitute “customer experience” here for “customer service” only because service is a tactical component of CX that not everyone is qualified to provide. But every employee should look at themselves as contributing to the customer experience in some way, and therefore looking for ways to improve that experience by making it simpler, faster, or more convenient. For example, someone in the billing department may never actually talk to a customer, but they should still be looking for ways to make payments easier. After all, why would we want to stand in the way of a customer paying us?!

TWEET THIS: Every employee should look at themselves as contributing to the customer experience in some way. ~@dgingiss #EmployeeExperience #CX #BrandExperience #DebbieLaskeysBlog

QUESTION: What's your favorite customer experience story?
DAN GINGISS: Well, I make a living as a customer experience storyteller so it’s hard to pick just one favorite! But I’ll choose one from my new book, The Experience Maker: How to Create Remarkable Experiences that Your Customers Can’t Wait to Share:
 
If you’re like me and travel a lot for work, that means you also stay in a lot of hotels. There’s a dirty little secret about frequent travelers that most of us don’t want to admit: Sometimes we wake up in the middle of the night with absolutely no idea where we are.

“Am I in my bedroom? No, it’s a hotel, but wait...which hotel is it again? Where is the bathroom? And why is it so dark?”

Even if you don’t travel frequently, waking up at night in a strange place can be quite disorienting.

At one hotel I stayed at (naturally, I can’t remember which one), I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. As soon as my feet hit the floor, a motion-activated light turned on from the bottom of the nightstand. It lit the path to the bathroom! Brilliant.

Now, being the customer experience guy that I am, I got down on my hands and knees and examined the light. It surprised me to find that it was a small stick-on light that probably costs fifty cents at Home Depot. Clearly it was not expensive, but it completely changed the experience of getting up in the middle of the night in a dark hotel. That counts as extraordinary in my book. (Literally.)

My gratitude to Dan for appearing on my Blog and for sharing his inspiring customer experience marketing insights.

Image Credit: Debbie Laskey.

Design Impacts Customers – Especially During a Pandemic!

Over the last decade, thanks to social media, I have had the privilege to meet a variety of amazing business experts. One of these experts is Paul Biedermann, who I met on Twitter in 2013. We recently had a discussion about marketing, and highlights follow below Paul’s bio.

Paul Biedermann is Principal/Creative Director of re:DESIGN, a small agency specializing in Brand Identity, Strategic Design, and Visual Marketing — creating great design and smart strategies that reach, engage, and inspire people to action, based in Long Island, New York. Formerly a Creative Director for The McGraw-Hill Companies and Art Director for the NFL, Paul founded a global design community, is an adjunct professor of design, and serves on boards and advisory committees that support the arts. Paul has a BFA from the School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. Visit his website and blog at www.redesign2.com; check out his Facebook community at https://facebook.com/groups/redesign2; and follow on Twitter @PaulBiedermann.

QUESTION: On your blog, you wrote, “Design is never about you and me, it’s about the impact your business makes on its customers.” Please explain.
PAUL BIEDERMANN: The intent was to take subjectivity out of the design process and put the focus where it should be — on how well a design satisfies a particular business objective or some other goal. It should never be about whether a client’s favorite color is green or the personal style of a particular designer, but rather about how effectively design solves the business problem at hand. And that ultimately benefits the client’s customers, prospects, or end-users.

TWEET THIS: Design is never about you and me, it’s about the impact your business makes on its customers. –@PaulBiedermann #marketing #brandexperience

QUESTION: While the traditional marketing landscape of printed collateral including annual reports, brochures, and fact sheets has evolved in the digital era to websites, emails, and mobile ads, how do you see the future of design?
PAUL BIEDERMANN: Design will always have a place, it just evolves with the media. Remember, design is more about the message than the form — so clarity, functionality, persuasion — how well design gets the reader or end-user to take notice and act is what it’s all about.

This could be the difference between someone staying on a website or clicking somewhere else — or how easily they are able to locate what they need once there, whether they sign-up or make a purchase — no different than getting pulled-in by an ad or poster and attending an event, or how easily one can absorb and retain content. Design meets the moment. Moving into things like augmented reality and whatever else the future may hold, the need to grab somebody and influence a response or entice an action will always be the role of good design.

QUESTION: Have you seen any exceptional ad campaigns during the COVID-19 pandemic?
PAUL BIEDERMANN: One that stands out happened at the beginning of the crisis, and how McDonald’s (Brazil) split apart its famous golden arches to convey social distancing. It was a simple, whimsical solution that was attached to their core identity — which they literally ripped in two (like a broken heart?). It effectively communicated the need to close their dine-in areas while promoting safety through drive-thru, carryout, and delivery options.
 

QUESTION: What is your thought process when designing a logo?
PAUL BIEDERMANN: That’s a rather broad question, because SO much thinking goes into creating an effective logo! People often seem to have a misconception that logos are easy because of their simplicity, but the reality is far different. Indeed, designing a good logo is among the most difficult things a designer can do.

I always start by learning what the company, organization, or service is about — and then iterating on how to best communicate its essence. The solution could be quite literal or oftentimes, something more abstract that nonetheless communicates the right feeling. So, it’s a mix of business needs, aesthetic needs, and practical needs such as if the brand mark will work effectively in all media, materials, colors, and sizes. Not easy — but that’s the magic. It just looks simple when it’s done.

QUESTION: What are your three favorite brands, and why?
PAUL BIEDERMANN: It’s probably no surprise that my favorite brands tend to utilize design in a way that makes our lives better. Stylish? Perhaps. But also, a great user experience. My three are: Netflix, Apple, and Twitter.

NETFLIX: Because who doesn’t like Netflix, especially during a pandemic? But seriously, it exemplifies a well-designed user experience: intuitive browsing, easy to preview, and simple to use. It’s an overall seamless experience that leads to less frustration and more viewing enjoyment! Netflix has also been vocal about race relations and the current civil crisis, and hopefully, will translate that into action.

APPLE: I know, I know… but I’d be remiss not mentioning the brand permeating my life for the past 30 years now: Apple. Beginning with the dawn of the Macintosh at the start of my design career, that’s the same desktop system I’m sitting at now and the brand behind the little digital and creative device so often in my hands — a true life-changer — first revolutionizing the creative field and then almost everything else. Not much I can add to what’s been said so many times before, but from their products to their retailers, packaging, and advertising, Apple is a designer’s dream. They pay attention to the little things and the needs of the end-user — all hallmarks of good design and undeniable proof of the business success that comes with it.

TWITTER: Besides the fast-moving, fluid communications vehicle they’ve developed, no social media platform is more prone to the serendipity that a casual tweet can produce by immediately putting you in proximity to some of the most influential people on the planet. That is by design as much as anything else. But with great power comes great responsibility — so I also commend Twitter for their integrity in protecting their platform and brand with recent moves to flag tweets that share misleading information or promote violence.

My thanks to Paul for sharing his marketing insights and for appearing here on my Blog.

Blog post referenced in Question #1:
“Design Is Not About You or Me, It’s About Them”
https://www.redesign2.com/blog/design-is-not-about-you-or-me-its-about-them/


Image Credits: Debbie Laskey via the ImageQuote app and McDonald’s Brazil.

How Has Covid Impacted the Workplace, Corporate Culture and Leadership?

 

Whenever I think about leadership, I think about Eric Jacobson. Today, I would like to welcome Eric back to my blog. We met through our work with MicroMentor in 2009, and since then, Eric has appeared on my blog four times as a featured guest and countless other times with quotes. 

Eric has more than a quarter-century of experience in successfully leading employees and teams through periods of revenue growth, new product development, and re-engineering. He is an experienced mentor and coach and holds an MBA Degree from Keller Graduate School. Eric’s passion is helping individuals to become effective leaders at work, within organizations, and wherever they are called upon to lead and inspire. 

Recently, Eric and I had a conversation about the changing nature of leadership based on a series of interesting and timely articles, and highlights follow below. For more about Eric, visit his Blog at https://ericjacobsononmanagement.blogspot.com/ and follow him on Twitter @EricJacobsonKC.

QUESTION: A recent article in Fast Company reported that the post-Covid office is not dead. What are your thoughts on this topic?

https://www.fastcompany.com/90605978/the-office-is-not-dead-heres-why

“After almost a year of remote working, we’re seeing a slow decay of connection. According to Gallup, remote employees are 7% less likely to see their connection to the mission of a company. Staring at a laptop screen with six other faces is inherently transactional, less spontaneous, and less human than working in an actual room with actual people.“

ERIC JACOBSON: This article mentioned, Susan Lund, PhD, a leader of the McKinsey Global Institute, who believes the return to offices will be about interaction. She said, “You’ll go into [the office] to meet with other people doing brainstorming and innovation, with more collaborative spaces, team rooms, and maybe individual phone booths for [private] conversations.”

The article also said that right now, there are too many unknowns (in public health, in the economy) to determine exactly when many employees will return to shared workplaces, but the advantages of human connection at work are so profound that a return to the office in some new, creative form is inevitable.

My thoughts are that many businesses will benefit from some type of physical office situation post-pandemic for the very reasons Lund stated in the article. I also believe that office space, at least for the foreseeable future (and where budgets permit), will and should look very different. Leaders will also need to help ensure employees feel comfortable and safe in a shared space, and employees will need to believe that space is purposeful.

The pandemic taught us that many businesses can function without employees being in a shared office space every day. It taught us that many employees can travel less often for work. It taught us how to use technology more effectively.

Post-pandemic, I advocate for leaders to offer flexible work schedules and flexibility as to where employees work – perhaps allowing a blending of working in a shared office and working from home.

And, in the meantime, while employees are working from home, leaders should go out of their way to be extra communicative – doing all they can to create a sense of teamwork, belonging and inclusion via a combination of Zoom (or similar platform), email, and phone conversations.

QUESTION: In a recent McKinsey article entitled, “The Vanishing Middle Manager,” several leaders discussed the loss of middle managers during the Covid era. How do you envision the impact of this phenomenon on the post-Covid workplace?

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-vanishing-middle-manager

ERIC JACOBSON: Loss of middle managers during the Covid-19 era disappointments me. Because, as the article pointed out, middle managers are more often than not the individuals who are providing employees daily coaching, real-time feedback, and training.

Most importantly, middle managers are also an organization’s next generation of leaders. I believe, as the article stated, that middle manager roles should be coveted and nurtured and curated, not eliminated. If you want to eliminate something, eliminate tasks—tasks that are administrative or bureaucratic and don’t add value. Hopefully, if an organization eliminated its middle managers during the pandemic for budget reasons, better future financial times will allow that organization to reinstate those roles.

TWEET THIS: Middle managers are an organization’s next generation of leaders. –@EricJacobsonKC #Leadership #EmployeeExperience #EmployerBranding

QUESTION: A recent article by Knowledge@Wharton was titled, “Why You Need a ‘Challenge Network.’” What are your thoughts on this topic?

https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/why-you-need-a-challenge-network/

ERIC JACOBSON: Here are my two main takeaways from this article:

First, the ideal members of a challenge network are disagreeable — critical and skeptical. They’re fearless about questioning the way things have always been done and foster constructive conflict. Second, we learn more from people who challenge our thought process than from those who affirm our conclusions. I agree with both takeaways and see great value in having a challenge network within an organization, team, group, etc.

Leaders don’t have all the answers. Strong, effective leaders know that, and they value input from employees who question the status quo, play devil’s advocate, ask “what-if,” and, collectively, provide the opportunity for everyone to consider all sides of an issue.

Key, though, is that the challenge network members must be both constructive and respectful in their approach. Healthy conflict, discussion and evaluation are both critical and valuable when done in that manner.

QUESTION: I read an article by Paul LaRue (@Paul_LaRue on Twitter) that shared excellent leadership advice: Don’t lead from the rearview mirror. What does this advice mean to you?

https://upwardsleader.com/2021/02/14/dont-lead-from-the-rearview-mirror/

ERIC JACOBSON: This advice reminds me of what one of my first supervisors taught me. He told me, “if you make a decision I disagree with, I’ll tell you so and why, and let’s use that as an opportunity to learn, and then let’s move on.” I’ve done my best to live by that advice ever since in my leadership roles.

This leadership practice is quite similar to what LaRue shares in his article (his analogy), that cars have a large windshield and a small rear-view mirror. As drivers need to check behind them once in a while, they need to focus on the road ahead to ensure that they can successfully get where they are going. Great leaders know the wisdom of focusing on the present and future and spending very little time on the recent past.

He adds that when a leader works hard to train their people to get ahead of situations and prevent errors or poor execution, that leader becomes more effective than the one who would rather wait and pounce on an issue in arrears.

LaRue’s advice is so valuable, it is worth repeating here: People that are rear-view managers tend to be reactionary. They would rather jump on an issue after it occurred. Usually those issues are ones in which an error or poor performance took place, in which case the manager reprimands, then takes steps to correct the individual through steps such as remedial training or formal discipline.

Windshield leadership is quite the opposite mindset. A windshield leader is always looking ahead and doing whatever it takes to avoid the hazards and potholes up ahead. They set clear expectations, build reminders of what the goal and vision are continually, and train incessantly to ensure their people are on top of their game and perform at a high level at all times.

Finally, as he states, “We learn from our mistakes so we can succeed better,” rather than “You messed up, here are the consequences.”

QUESTION: A quote by Lolly Daskal (@LollyDaskal on Twitter) stands out: “Leaders sometimes think the more they withhold, the more power they hold. But I believe the opposite is true: the more you communicate, the more power it gives you.” What do you think about this advice?

https://www.lollydaskal.com/leadership/what-happens-when-a-leader-stops-communicating/

ERIC JACOBSON: I agree with Lolly Daskal’s advice to be a communicative leader. As she explained in her article, a leader’s lack of communication has the potential to harm teams, businesses, workplace dynamics, and the processes that keep everything moving.

More specifically, she adds that an uncommunicative leader and ineffective communication leads to employee frustration, distrust and confusion, a lack of respect, and a decrease in employee morale and motivation. In addition, when a leader doesn’t communicate, employees typically create a dialog and stories in their own minds, often assuming worse-case scenarios.

Leaders should communicate often and regularly, sharing both the good news and the bad news – good news to help celebrate, motivate, encourage, and inspire. And bad news to help build trust, to be truthful, and perhaps most importantly, because employees very likely have ideas and solutions to help turn a bad situation into a positive outcome.

While workforces are remote working from home, leaders should make a deliberate effort to communicate not only in writing, but also via Zoom (or similar tool). Good news or bad, it is important that employees receive communication from their leaders visually and verbally and not only through email.


My gratitude to Eric for appearing on my Blog a record fifth time and for sharing his always inspiring and thought-provoking leadership insights.


To read previous Q&A’s with Eric, see below for titles, dates, and links:

The Importance of Training, Customer Connections & Leadership (March 21, 2011)
https://debbielaskey.blogspot.com/2011/03/importance-of-training-customer.html

The Importance of Mentorships (March 11, 2013)
https://debbielaskey.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-importance-of-mentorships.html

Leadership Doesn’t Have to Be Hard (May 3, 2016)
https://debbielaskey.blogspot.com/2016/05/leadership-doesnt-have-to-be-hard.html

How Leadership Crafts the #EmployeeExperience (May 1, 2018)
https://debbielaskey.blogspot.com/2018/05/how-leadership-crafts-employeeexperience.html


Image Credit: Real Leaders (Twitter and Instagram: @Real_Leaders).

Marketing Tips from 3 Brands that Pivoted During the Pandemic

 

While the Covid Pandemic has thankfully taken a turn away from stay-at-home orders and quarantines, we must all continue to protect ourselves and our loved ones. Smart brands realize this and have pivoted and will continue to pivot because it’s not yet time for business to return to “pre-Covid normal.”

Which brands pivoted to stay in business during the height of the pandemic? Which brands stood out by pivoting? Which brands will be long remembered by their actions during the Covid pandemic? Which brands disappeared during the pandemic never to be seen again? 

Here are three brands that clearly explained why they pivoted – and their actions can teach all brands a thing or two.

BUDWEISER
On February 7, 2021, there were no Budweiser Clydesdales in Super Bowl ads. The company chose to apply its $5 million ad budget allocated for the big game toward covid vaccine awareness and education. In addition, Budweiser donated some of its advertising airtime during the rest of 2021 to the Ad Council and the Covid Collaborative’s Vaccine Education Initiative.

“Like everyone else, we are eager to get people back together, reopen restaurants and bars, and be able to gather to cheer with friends and family. To do this, and to bring consumers back into neighborhood bars and restaurants that were hit exceptionally hard by the pandemic, we’re stepping in to support critical awareness of the Covid-19 vaccine,” Monica Rustgi, Budweiser vice president of marketing, explained.

MARKETING TIP: Budweiser wanted to provide vaccine awareness and education.

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL (MLB)
Despite what seemed to this baseball fan like months of discussions, major league baseball executives unveiled a shortened season comprised of 60 games rather than the normal 162-game regular season. The intent was to provide a sense of normally in an incredibly crazy and difficult time to millions of people who were quarantined at home and wanted to watch the nation’s pastime. Of course, it did not hurt that this fan’s team won the World Series!

According to Wikipedia, “The 2020 Major League Baseball season began on July 23 and ended on September 27 with 60 games amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. The full 162-game regular season was originally scheduled to begin on March 26. However, the pandemic caused Major League Baseball (MLB) to announce on March 12 that the remainder of spring training was canceled and that the start of the regular season would be delayed by at least two weeks On March 16, MLB announced that the season would be postponed indefinitely, following recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to restrict events of more than 50 people. This was the first time that MLB games have been put on hold since the 2001 season, when the season was paused for over a week after the September 11 attacks.

On July 6, MLB released the revised schedule for the shortened 60-game season. The season started on July 23, with two games: New York Yankees at Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers. The remaining 26 teams opened the season on July 24. An expanded 16-team postseason tournament began on September 29, with games of all but the first round being played at neutral sites. The World Series began on October 20 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, and ended on October 27, with the Los Angeles Dodgers defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in six games to win their first title since 1988.”

MARKETING TIP: MLB wanted to provide a sense of normalcy in a difficult time.

VERMONT TEDDY BEAR FACTORY
Once the pandemic started, the “Bear crew” at this company known for meticulously-designed, handcrafted teddy bears that are guaranteed for life since 1981 wondered how it could help.

According to its website, “We decided to put new Bear creation on hold and donate our supply of 620 surgical and N95 masks. (These masks protect our crew from breathing in fur and stuffing fibers as the bears are made.) The masks went to the Medical Countermeasures and Strategic National Stockpile, Division of Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Injury Prevention, Vermont Department of Health. Next on the list was to start making masks. A few of our crew volunteered to round up materials at our manufacturing facility to make kits for face mask creation (we stayed a safe distance apart!), and community members volunteered to start making masks from home. We have a network of over 150 at home sewers helping us! We have distributed over 14,000 masks to the City of Burlington, and they have all gone directly to essential workers. Our goal is to make 125,000 masks, enough to give 20% of Vermonters masks.”

MARKETING TIP: Vermont Teddy Bear Factory wanted to make an impact on the needs of local essential workers – and by thinking outside the box, used its factory, workers, and volunteers to create a much-needed commodity, face masks.

So, how can YOUR brand pivot, and what can it learn from these marketing tips?


Image Credits: Budweiser, MLB, and Vermont Teddy Bear Factory.

Top 10 Marketing Highlights of 2020

With 2020 now history, it's time for my annual “Top 10” marketing highlights post – incredible that this is my 11th post featuring annual marketing highlights.

What do you remember from the 2020 marketing reel? What stood out as marketing innovation, and what will go down in history that was as memorable as Apple’s 1984 Super Bowl ad? Without further ado, let’s get to it! 

With a nod and thank you to David Letterman for the format, here's my list:

NUMBER 10:
When it comes to signage, everyone knows about the “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign from 1959 that greets visitors at the south end of Las Vegas Boulevard. But during 2020, a new downtown landmark appeared, the Gateway Arches. The 80-foot-high twin interlocking steel arches dangle a seven-ton, pink, retro-style City of Las Vegas emblem framed by more than 13,000 LED lights.

NUMBER 9:
Numerous brands changed their names in an effort to show their sensitivity to diversity, equality, racial injustice, and inclusion following the death of George Floyd and the #BlackLivesMatter protests.

Here are some of the new names: The Dixie Chicks became The Chicks, Lady Antebellum became Lady A, the Washington Redskins became the Washington Football Team.

The following food brands also made some changes:  

• Uncle Ben’s Rice became Ben’s Original.
• Eskimo Pie decided on a new name three months after it acknowledged its original name was offensive toward native arctic communities. In 2021, the chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream bar will be called Edy's Pie, after one of the company's founders, Joseph Edy.
• Land O' Lakes rebranded its packaging for its 100th anniversary, “to better tell its farmer-owned story” and removed the lady (a Native American Indian) from its logo.
• The Aunt Jemima brand of syrup and pancake mix will get a new name and image – this 130-year-old brand featured a Black woman named Aunt Jemima, whose look perpetuated a racist stereotype.
• Mrs. Butterworth and Cream of Wheat are in the process of a complete brand and packaging review.
• The Cleveland Indians and Atlanta Braves major league baseball teams may also change their names, logos, and uniform design in the future.

NUMBER 8:  
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away. Soon after her death, protests started because the person nominated to replace her had completely opposite views on all matters. However, women and men vowed to continue to honor Ginsburg’s legacy of equality for all. Shirts, hats, and pins appeared everywhere with Ginsburg’s likeness and famous quotes.

NUMBER 7:
No retail store is more associated with Christmas than Macy’s, but in 2020, Santa Claus ended a 159-year tradition and did not visit Macy’s stores for his annual meet-and-greet with children. This decision was made due to concerns about the Covid-19/corona virus pandemic. According to the company’s press release, “To replicate the magical experience of visiting Macy’s Santaland for children and their families, we will shift to a virtual engagement this year. The experience starts with a greeting from virtual elves who lead the way through Santa’s village and workshop, stopping to see the sights and play interactive games. At the end, kids will meet Santa through an interactive video, where they’ll be able to share their holiday wish list and take a selfie with Santa, which families can download immediately.”

NUMBER 6:
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Prince Harry and wife Meghan) gave up their status as “senior working royals” and moved first to Canada and then to Beverly Hills, finally settling near Santa Barbara. Their goal was to become financially self-sufficient – made easier due to deals with Netflix and the New York-based Harry Walker Agency, also used by the Obamas, the Clintons, Oprah Winfrey, and Jane Goodall, to arrange speaking engagements. The couple wishes to create their own philanthropic foundation called Archewell, and to focus on issues such as racial justice, gender equality, environmental concerns, and mental health.

NUMBER 5:
Little boys like to play with plastic toy soldiers, and until 2020, toy soldiers were all male. A seven-year-old girl, Vivian Lord of Little Rock, Arkansas, wondered why they weren’t any female toy soldiers. So, she wrote a letter that read in part, “Why do you not make girl army men?”and sent copies to several army toy manufacturers. Jeff Imel, owner of BMC Toys in Scranton, Pennsylvania, agreed with Vivian, and now, BMC Toys has a line of 22 women army toy soldiers. This action was demonstrative of the difference one person’s voice can make – as well as the change in the toy industry, especially for BMC Toys.

NUMBER 4:
Scientific American magazine broke its 175-year tradition and endorsed a Presidential candidate for the first time. The magazine endorsed Joe Biden due to his concern for the environment and his ideas to combat the Covid-19 crisis.

NUMBER 3:
Throughout the United States, women celebrated the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote in 1920. The National Women’s Party began wearing three distinct colors in 1913, and the United States Post Office created a stamp featuring purple, white, and gold. Purple was the color of loyalty, constancy to purpose, and unswerving steadfastness to a cause. White was the emblem or purity and symbolized the quality of the suffragists’ purpose. And gold was the color of light and life.

NUMBER 2:
The COVID-19/corona virus pandemic changed life dramatically. With a start in a small town in China, the virus traveled to all corners of the world infecting millions and killing thousands. This virus changed the way everyone lived and worked during 2020. Offices closed, which resulted in many people working from home or losing their jobs - some even lost their homes. Restaurants closed, hotels closed, stores closed, etc. One example of a retail store that closed was Lord & Taylor, which was the first department store in the United States - it closed after nearly 200 years. Sports teams played in empty stadiums. The 2020 World Series was played with less than 20,000 lucky fans in the stands. Stay-at-home orders were imposed, lifted, and imposed again in many cities across the world. While there are rumors that several drug manufacturers are developing vaccines, everyone hopes that vaccines appear in large quantities in 2021.

Online commerce was the only place where sales increased, thus, creating an opportunity for creative digital marketing.

And NUMBER 1 on my 2020 Marketing Highlights List:

Drum roll please...

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 Presidential Election in November. Biden, formerly a Senator from Delaware and Barack Obama’s Vice President, chose Harris, formerly a California Senator, as his Vice President. Harris will be the first woman vice president, the first black vice president, and the first South Asian vice president. Inauguration day will be on January 20, 2021. The amount of marketing swag with the Biden-Harris names and likenesses appeared almost overnight following the announcement of their win. And their marketing team was quick to act with the creation of social media accounts for the Biden-Harris Presidential Transition using the Presidential seal, the number 46, and their tagline of “Build Back Better.”

To quote President Elect Biden, “I’m running as a proud Democrat, but I will govern as an American President. I will work with Democrats and Republicans, and I’ll work as hard for those who don’t support me as for those who do. Because that’s the job of a President.”

To quote Vice President Elect Harris, “What a testament it is to Joe’s character, that he had the audacity to break one of the most substantial barriers that exists in our country and select a woman as his Vice President.”

Despite one’s political beliefs, there is no doubt that this was a memorable election and certainly an appropriate one to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote.

What would you add to this list? Here's to 2021 and another year of marketing highlights. Happy New Year!

Image Credits: President-Elect Joe Biden's Inauguration campaign, Amazon, and US Post Office.