Top 10 Marketing Highlights of 2021

With 2021 now history, it's time for my annual “Top 10” marketing highlights post – incredible that this is my 12th post featuring annual marketing highlights.

What do you remember from the 2021 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!

A theme seems to be running through many of this year's highlights, and it involves words and language – very important in the marketing arena because communication is key.

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

NUMBER 10: There were two noteworthy announcements by Merriam-Webster. In January, it added the term "Second Gentleman" to describe Doug Emhoff's role. Emhoff is the husband of Kamala Harris, the first woman Vice President of the United States. And in November, it declared that the word of the year was "vaccine." According to Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster's editor-at-large, "Vaccine was a word that was extremely high in our data every single day in 2021."

NUMBER 9: Budweiser's signature Clydesdale horses did not appear during the Super Bowl for the first time in 37 years. The company explained that the money that would have been spent for the ad, a reported $5.6 million, was shifted toward supporting a critical COVID-19 vaccine awareness ad campaign.

NUMBER 8: Mattel's Barbie line of dolls added former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt to its "Inspiring Women" series. The addition was announced to celebrate International Women's Day on March 8, a day that celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. Other women in the series include Rosa Parks, Sally Ride, Dr. Maya Angelou, Billie Jean King, Ella Fitzgerald, Florence Nightingale, Susan B. Anthony, Amelia Earhart, Katherine Johnson, Helen Keller, and Frida Kahlo.

NUMBER 7: Tiffany & Company had some fun on April Fool's Day. The brand known for its little blue boxes – often filled with diamond rings – changed its iconic blue color to yellow – just for the day.

NUMBER 6: Prince Phillip died at the age of 99 in April. Due to that loss combined with Prince Andrew's scandal and the exit by Prince Harry and Meghan, Queen Elizabeth introduced her core group for royal engagements: The Queen, Prince Charles, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Edward, and the Countess of Wessex.

NUMBER 5: Hershey's celebrated International Women's Day by emphasizing the SHE in HERSHEY. According to Veronica Villasenor, vice president of Chocolate for the Hershey Company, "We want to encourage everyone to share some extra goodness and take a moment to celebrate the "SHEs": the women and girls who have inspired us, motivated us, and have made a positive change in our lives."

NUMBER 4: With COVID-19 on everyone's mind and vaccines readily available, Krispy Kreme offered a free glazed doughnut a day to anyone who showed a vaccination card at its stores throughout 2021. According to Dave Skena, Chief Marketing Officer of Krispy Kreme, "Whatever little things brands can do to help make it past the pandemic are good things."

NUMBER 3: President Joe Biden formally recognized atrocities against Armenians as "genocide." The term was avoided by his predecessors for decades over concerns of alienating Turkey. This announcement was especially important because Biden campaigned on a promise to make human rights a central component of his foreign policy.

NUMBER 2: The Walt Disney Company removed the words "Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls" from its greeting from its Florida Magic Kingdom fireworks show and changed it to "Good evening, dreamers of all ages." According to a spokesperson, Disney announced that it was adding "inclusion" as a fifth key component of its customer service: "We want our guests to see their own backgrounds and traditions reflected in the stories, experiences, and products they encounter in their interactions with Disney."

And NUMBER 1 on my 2021 Marketing Highlights List:

Drum roll please...

NUMBER 1: Space tourism became a reality. Billionaires and celebrities became astronauts for a brief period, about 10 minutes. Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson, and Star Trek actor William Shatner were three of a select few who went into space and safely returned. Only time will tell how many people will pay the big bucks (ranging from $200,000 to $28 million) for their own space travel adventure.

What would you add to this list? Here's to 2022 and another year of marketing highlights. Happy New Year!

Image Credits: Krispy Kreme and Hershey's.

As We Celebrate 1920, Work Remains to See More Women in Top Leadership Roles

 

Today is Women's Equality Day and marks the 101st anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. This important day celebrates the achievements of women’s rights activists (including my great-grandmother who marched for women's suffrage in New York in the early 1900's) and reminds us of the struggles that women still face including equal pay for equal work and top leadership roles.

According to the National Women's History Alliance, "At the behest of Representative Bella Abzug (D-NY), in 1971, the United States Congress designated August 26 as “Women’s Equality Day.” The date was selected to commemorate the 1920 certification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote. This was the culmination of a massive, peaceful civil rights movement by women that had its formal beginnings in 1848 at the world’s first women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York. The observance of Women’s Equality Day not only commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment, but also calls attention to women’s continuing efforts toward full equality."

Over the last decade, thanks to social media, I have had the privilege of meeting inspiring marketing, branding, customer experience, leadership, and social media experts. One of these experts is Susan Colantuono, a leadership expert based in Rhode Island. We recently had a discussion about leadership and the employee experience, the COVID pandemic's impact on the workplace, and most appropriate for today, women's advances in leadership roles. Highlights follow Susan's bio.

Susan Colantuono is an expert on women's advancement, author, and speaker. She is best known for her TED Talk on the Career Advice You Probably Didn't Get (which has over 4 million views) and her books, No Ceiling, No Walls and Make the Most of Mentoring. She is the founder and former CEO of Leading Women, a global consulting firm focused on women's advancement. Now, as a co-host of A Career that Soars!, she continues to provide leadership and career development to women around the globe. Check out Susan's website at https://a-career-that-soars.mn.co/landing and connect on Twitter @SusanColantuono.

QUESTION: Since the Covid-19 pandemic began more than a year ago, how has it impacted the role of leadership and the overall employee experience?
SUSAN COLANTUONO: The answer here depends on where you're standing. Leaders at the board level expect executives to continue to deliver positive results in the face of changing business environments. Employees continue to want positive work environments and meaningful work. Delivering on these expectations has required significant flexibility on the part of executives, managers and employees. The biggest impact of the pandemic from my viewpoint is the "Shecession," whereby more women have left the labor force and if/when they re-enter, they will be behind in terms of income and experience.

QUESTION: You have defined leadership as "Using the greatness in you to achieve and sustain extraordinary outcomes by engaging the greatness in others." Can you please elaborate?
SUSAN COLANTUONO: Too often people define leadership from the perspective of the employees being managed (engage our greatness) or through the lens of an individualistic culture (use your personal greatness). While both are important, they leave out how leadership is viewed from above (achieve and sustain extraordinary outcomes). This gap has contributed to women rarely receiving advice about the importance of developing and demonstrating business, strategic, and financial acumen.

QUESTION: Janet Yellen, the current and first female Secretary of the Treasury, has been described as, "A proven leader who knows how to build consensus, the kind of person who makes everybody around her better." What three characteristics are necessary to create a consensus-builder?
SUSAN COLANTUONO: Consensus builders rely on 3 key skills:
(1) Listening - consensus builders are able to hear the perspectives, values, and superordinate goals of others.
(2) Openness to new ideas - consensus builders are able to find new paths forward which create "wins" for all involved.
(3) Patience - building consensus takes time and therefore needs patience. There are situations where you have the time to build consensus and others where the decision-maker must act to avoid danger or disaster.

QUESTION: Despite recent successes, how can women earn more top leadership positions as CEOs, COOs, CFOs, Board Chairs, etc.?
SUSAN COLANTUONO: For years, women have been performing in ways that would earn men more top leadership positions, but have not gained them. At this point, in many organizations, the onus is on men in decision-making roles to examine the gender dynamics in hiring and promotion that are holding women back (double binds, double standards, motherhood penalty, etc.) and make less biased decisions.

As a CEO, or as an executive or director for that matter, if women aren’t proportionately represented throughout your organization, you aren’t facing a women’s issue — you’re facing a talent development issue with business implications. And so it’s important to bring your personal commitment and the same level of organizational accountability to that challenge as you would to any business issue.

Where women are not performing in ways to earn top leadership, I suggest they work to fulfill my leadership definition - especially working to develop and/or demonstrate business, strategic, and financial acumen. Debbie, being a branding expert, you can see how being known as someone who: uses her personal greatness to achieve or exceed the goals of the organization through great relationships with key people inside and outside the organization would be a leadership brand worth cultivating.

TWEET THIS: If women aren’t proportionately represented throughout your org, you aren’t facing a women’s issue, you’re facing a talent development issue with business implications. ~@SusanColantuono #EmployerBranding #WomensEqualityDay #DebbieLaskeysBlog

 
QUESTION: One of my favorite leadership quotes is from author and consultant Mark Herbert (@NewParadigmer on Twitter): "Leadership doesn't require you to be the smartest person in the room. It requires you to block and tackle for others." What does this quote mean to you?
SUSAN COLANTUONO: As others you've interviewed have said, surrounding oneself with smart and capable colleagues is one hallmark of great leaders. In this sense, giving them space to "do their thing" is a leadership act, as long as "their thing" is aligned with the business strategy and the goals they're paid to deliver.

TWEET THIS: Surrounding oneself with smart and capable colleagues is one hallmark of great leaders. ~@SusanColantuono #LeadershipTip #EmployeeExperience #DebbieLaskeysBlog

 

Here's the link to Susan's TED talk:
"The Career Advice You Probably Didn't Get"
https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_colantuono_the_career_advice_you_probably_didn_t_get
and the Transcript:
https://www.ted.com/talks/susan_colantuono_the_career_advice_you_probably_didn_t_get/transcript

Blog post about Janet Yellen in 2013:
https://debbielaskey.blogspot.com/2013/10/what-kind-of-leadership-legacy-are-you.html

More reading for Women's Equality Day:
2020 Was the Year of Women:
https://debbielaskey.blogspot.com/2020/12/2020-was-year-of-women.html
and
In Celebration of International Women’s Day:
https://debbielaskey.blogspot.com/2021/03/in-celebration-of-international-womens.html

Image Credits: Good Housekeeping and Mental Floss.

Some Lessons in Marketing Terminology

Over the last decade, thanks to social media, I have had the privilege of meeting a variety of amazing marketing, branding, customer experience, leadership, and social media experts all over the world. One of these experts is Maureen Jann, a marketing pro based in Seattle, Washington. We recently had a discussion about marketing, Covid19's impact on marketing, and social media, and highlights follow below.

Maureen shares her experience and background in her responses, and you can meet her on LinkedIn at https://linkedin.com/in/maureenjann, on her website at https://www.superdeluxemarketing.com, and follow on Twitter @NeoLuxeMo.

QUESTION: How do you explain your title of "Co-Conspirator and Chief Marketing Strategist?"
MAUREEN JANN: So, the term “conspirator” reflects Neoluxe Marketing’s focus on becoming part of our client’s story. When they’re stressed, we step up next to them and say something like, “We’re in this together and we’ll figure it out.” You can’t expect that from your normal run-of-the-mill co-founder title. I wanted to make sure that people know that if you hire me and my team, you’re getting someone who will be side-by-side with you helping to plan your most innovative marketing shenanigans.

What I also love about the phrase “co-conspirator” is that it describes my role in our organization as well. Not only am I able to be my partner’s co-conspirator, planning strategy and growth, but I’m able to bring that same kind of “in it together” type of approach to our team. Whether that means that I stand up and act as a buffer in difficult client situations, or someone is just overwhelmed with deliverables, I can step up next to him/her/them and we can walk through the tough spot together.

As for the Chief Marketing Strategist, that’s simpler! I provide the overarching marketing and content strategy inside NeoLuxe and in our client organizations. As a perfect example, right now, I find myself as an interim VP of Marketing at a few organizations we serve. I start by providing the strategy and am then able to engage my team to help execute on the details.

QUESTION: What appeals to you most about the field of marketing, and why?
MAUREEN JANN: I started out as a graphic designer. But even early in my career, I discovered that waiting for someone to tell me what to make and why wasn’t going to cut it. As I dug into the world of marketing while I was tolerating my first job as an administrative assistant at an insurance brokerage (they were great, I was just a truly terrible admin), it became clearer and clearer to me that marketing demanded a broader, more balanced set of skills. It combined creativity and analytical thinking in a way that I didn’t expect. And as I’ve matured into my career, what’s also clear is that there is always a ton to learn.

The ability to help people taps into my empathic nature as well. Not only do I get to help marketers achieve their goals, but I get to help connect them with their customers as well. I can walk a mile in their shoes and distill their wants, needs, desires, and influences into personas that can drive an entire organization’s understanding of their customer. Using my natural ability to connect and build trust with people to create that level of impact feels like the holy grail of occupations. I truly love what I do.  

QUESTION: Based on your professional experiences since March of 2020, how has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the world of marketing?
MAUREEN JANN: I’ve found that my personal experience during the pandemic is indicative of what I’m seeing in the market. By May of 2020, I had lost every client I had. I was starting from zero. But true to my phoenix form, I merged with another agency to form NeoLuxe Marketing. Of course, starting a new business in a pandemic is tricky and I knew if I didn’t hustle hard, I would fall flat on my face. So, I took 500 meetings in 5 months to build up the pipeline and get a real sense for what my prospects and the marketing industry at large were dealing with. This was in combination with homeschooling my kiddo and managing complex social structures with our education pod. The good news is that it worked. We went from zero clients to signing 6-figure clients in nine months thanks to the work of myself and my partner, Chris Craft. The bad news is that this didn’t happen without many tears and much gnashing of teeth (and a whole lotta time on Zoom). It just happened to close with a happy ending.

Marketing as a whole, much like my story, comes out the other side of this pandemic with a newfound desire to survive. That means we are navigating new internal demands, shifting persona populations dealing with more stress and anxiety, and in many cases, smaller teams. We are in a world where we need to know our customers better than ever to ensure that we don’t step in a pile of “NOPE” when we communicate with them.

There is added complication with the growing tech stacks as well. We were required to double down on digital transformation (although we were pretty digital to start with) because we are doing more with less in a way that we have never needed to in years prior. Automation is more important than ever. Efficiency and planning are more important than ever before. But doing it with a loose grip is critical as well because things could change again in the flutter of a butterfly’s wing.

TWEET THIS: We are in a world where we need to know our customers better than ever to ensure that we don’t step in a pile of “NOPE” when we communicate with them. ~@NeoLuxeMo #CX #marketingtip #brandexperience

QUESTION: What's your favorite social platform, and why?
MAUREEN JANN: I love Twitter. It’s fun, immediate, active, and allows for true interaction. I do a ton of TweetChats and highly recommend anyone in the marketing and business worlds to look up some TweetChats to participate in. They offer the opportunity to interact with the topic’s community in a way that’s moderated, fun, and fast.

Here are my three fave TweetChats:
(1) #CMWorld, 9am PT on Tuesdays - A wonderful community that has quite literally helped propel my career.
(2) #ContentChat, 12p PT on Mondays - Smart, sharp, and fresh questions on important topics. It's hosted by the amazing Erika Heald, and she brings together a unique community of outstanding marketers.
(3) #SEMRushChat, 8am PT on Wednesdays - A more technical crowd. I never fail to learn something new from a group of marketing experts that I don't often get to connect with.

QUESTION: How do you convince/make a case to a client to create a brand style guide when none previously existed for the business?
MAUREEN JANN: I always show them the money. Much like a creative brief, brand style guides offer an agreed-upon approach that saves endless rounds of editing, tweaking, and updating to reflect current brand approaches and strategies. The employees, contractors, and vendors know what’s anticipated of them, and they’re far more likely to get it right the first time if you set the expectations with a brand style guide.

QUESTION: What's your favorite marketing buzzword, and why? What's your most disliked marketing buzzword, and why?
MAUREEN JANN: Honestly, I don’t think or speak in buzzwords so this question is a little tough for me. Of course, as I type that, the words “machine learning/artificial intelligence” pop up for me as some of my least favorite terms. Not only are they ambiguous, but they are often grouped together when they are clearly two different concepts. Sometimes they can work together, but most frequently, organizations are creating dynamic algorithms and calling it AI. I get really tired of folks leveraging those phrases incorrectly.

I’m also hesitant to say that I have a favorite marketing buzzword. I like the word shenanigans (as seen in my response to the first question) and I love slipping that into every-day conversations. But the marketing specific buzzword that I am really enjoying and learning about is OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). The idea that you start with the objective, then you work your way back towards key results feels intuitively like a much more effective approach to goals and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). Goals often feel arbitrary and KPIs can feel like a goal’s equally arbitrary cousin. Starting with what you want to achieve through an object process seems far more useful.

My gratitude and appreciation to Maureen for appearing on my Blog and for sharing her marketing insights.

 

Additional reading about OKRs:

OKRs Vs. KPIs: Breaking Down The Difference:
https://www.clearpointstrategy.com/okrs-vs-kpis/

A brief history of OKR:
https://www.perdoo.com/okr-guide/

Image Credit: Daniel Herron and Unsplash app.