Donna's Promo Talk

It's Time again for PMA's Annual Promotional Marketing Law Conference

Tomorrow starts the beginning of PMA’s 30th Promotion Marketing Law Conference whose focus this year will be on promotions and regulations in a challenging economy. This is normally one of my must attend conferences which I've been honored to be a guest of PMA's for the past several years. However this year unfortunately I am not able to attend. With my new responsibilities at Butler/Till and the fact that it falls right before the Thanksgiving Holiday has made it extremely difficult to get away.

The Conference will again feature renowned experts, policymakers and business leaders from some of the world's major brands. It will be taking place across two days, Nov. 20th and 21st, again at the Marriott Downtown on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago. So not only will I be missing out of what's new in the promotional law arena and catching up with some of my fellow associates in the industry that I've known for years, but I won't be able to partake in some pre-Christmas shopping on Michigan Ave!!!

“The Message is the Medium: Consumer Marketing in the Age of Ubiquity,” is this year's theme and will cover the increased importance of creating successful and lawful promotions in a challenging economy. Visit PMA's website and you can listen to an audio interview with Marketing Law Conference Co-Chair Nancy Felsten ESQ, Partner at Davis Wright Tremaine given by Rob Fields, PMA Director of Member Development, which gives a great prelude to the conference.

Marketing executives, in-house counsel and firm attorneys will benefit from keynote speeches by William E. Kovacic, Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission; Deborah Taylor Tate, Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission; and Mark Kroese, General Manager of Microsoft Advertising who's pictured here to the left.

Attendees will also hear from a diverse group of decision makers and top outside and inside legal counsel from leading law firms and companies such as American Express, Microsoft, Facebook, Burger King, Nike, Google, G.E., Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, Target, GlaxoSmithKline, Visa, Sprint Nextel, Toyota, Yahoo! and Coca-Cola, among many others.

The 35 different sessions will cover topics on what marketers need to know to comply with the fast changing world of promotion laws, regulations and government enforcement policies. Special focus will be devoted to new rules and developments in marketing law nationally and globally with emphasis on incentive marketing, green marketing, mobile marketing with a concentration on wireless and text messaging, user-generated content, social networking, product integration, celebrities/talent/brand marketing, in-depth regulatory enforcement, and all forms of intellectual property.

“For the past thirty years, attendees have found PMA's Promotion Marketing Law Conference an invaluable resource to access the leading minds in the industry,” said Edward Kabak, Chief Legal Executive of PMA. “This year’s remodeled conference shows the breadth and depth of expertise and cutting-edge content that makes the Promotion Marketing Law Conference especially in this tough economic environment a ‘must-attend’ event for legal and advertising/marketing professionals.”

So even though I won't be there, I know many people that will be and I hope to catch up with them when they return and get their insight from the confernence and what their major take-aways were. Plus, PMA will be updating me on what was covered at the conference as well. PMA always puts on a great event. So please stay tuned. And if you're reading this post and you were there, please add your comments. Thanks.

McDonald's Lost Ring is Big Idea at PMA's Digital Marketing Summit

Here's a continuation of my report on PMA's first annual Digital Marketing Summit which was held last week at the Bridgewaters at the South Street Seaport in downtown NYC. After Rob Master, North American Media Director for Unilever, got us started off we then heard from the McDonald's brand/agency team, Kim Lloyd, Sr. Director of McDonald's Global Marketing and Julie Channing, Sr. Account Director with AKQA, with a presentation titled "Going Global with a Big Idea".

The big idea was the Lost Ring which I first wrote about here back in April after I attended PMA's Annual Integrated Marketing Conference where I got to hear Neil Golden, CMO of McDonald’s USA, give us a first look at this innovative program. The ultimate goal of this marketing campaign was to celebrate the spirit of the Olympic Games. McDonald's gave their agency, AKQA, a very brief, brief which stated this goal as well as it should also tie-in with Beijing as well as build the McDonald's brand on a global level.

Holly Cow! 7-Eleven and FreshWorks Win The Super Reggie Award

Day two of PMA's Annual Integrated Marketing Conference wrapped up on Wednesday night at the Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile hotel with the 25^th Annual REGGIE live Awards Ceremony that featured 25 years of the best promotion and integrated marketing campaigns. 7-Eleven along with their agency, FreshWorks, took home the coveted Supper Reggie award this year for their Simpson’s Kwik E-Mart campaign. In celebration of the 25th Anniversary they were presented with a 72 lb. antique cash register.

Featured in this picture left to right are: Bobbi Merkel, director of convergence at FreshWorks; Rita Bargerhuff, VP marketing, 7-Eleven, Inc.; Lynda Oliver, GM of FreshWorks; Rita Drucker, VP of domestic theatrical promotions at Twentieth Century FOX. Rita spoke about this campaign during a entertainment marketing session at the conference the day before. I had the pleasure of sitting with these women at lunch on day one of the conference and got to learn a little more about how their team works. Congratulations to all of you for a great job.

Back in July when The Simpsons Movie was just released in theaters I wrote this post describing the marketing partners that got on board with different promotions associated with this release. 7-Eleven and their agency FreshWorks worked with Fox Studios and Gracie Films to create what would become this award-wining campaign.

Twelve 7-Eleven stores were converted into Kwik-E-Marts (the fictional convenience store from The Simpsons for those that may not know). The Slurpee beverage was temporarily changed to “Squishee,” and new Sprinklicious Donuts filled bakery cases. Manufacturing partners were enlisted to create products like Buzz cola, KrustyO’s brand cereal and Radioactive Man comic books (Issue No. 711). Consumers were finally able to live like a Simpson at 7-Eleven.

“Each year, the PMA REGGIE Awards honors some of the most creative, well-executed, results-driven integrated marketing campaigns,” said Bonnie Carlson, president of the PMA. “FreshWorks and 7-Eleven delivered the largest-scale promotion to hit the convenience retail channel, and the first ever, real life Simpsons experience.  It is fitting that they got to take home the 72 lb cash register Super REGGIE Award for a campaign that made the cash registers ring.”

Gold, Silver and Bronze REGGIE Award-winning campaigns were announced in 16 categories.  Other multi-REGGIE Award-winning campaigns included: The Sopranos A&E Connection (two Gold REGGIES); McDonald's Shrek (one Gold REGGIE, one Silver REGGIE); SPIDER-MAN WEEK IN NYC (one Gold REGGIE, one Silver REGGIE); and My GRAMMY Moment (one Silver REGGIE, one Bronze REGGIE).

The Gold, Silver and Bronze REGGIE Award winners in each of the 16 categories are as follows:

National Consumer - Budget over $5 million
Gold: The Starter Wife Campaign (Client: USA Network; Agency: In-House)
Silver: McDonald's Shrek (Client: McDonald’s; Agency: Arc Worldwide)
Bronze: Bee Movie Theatrical Program (Client: DreamWorks Animation; Agency: In-House)

National Consumer - Budget between $1 million and $5 million
Gold:  Welcome to Stacy's (Client: Stacy's Pita Chip Company; Agency: TracyLocke)
Silver: The Sopranos A&E Connection Game (Client: A&E; Agency: Civic Entertainment Group)
Bronze: My GRAMMY Moment (Client: The Recording Academy; Agency: In-House)

National Consumer - Budget under $1 million
Gold: The Sopranos A&E Connection (Client: A&E Television Network; Agency: Civic Entertainment Group)
Silver: HOP Across America (Client:Hooked On Phonics; Agency: Civic Entertainment Group and Engage Marketing)
Bronze: Silk Soymilk "Green Caps for Green Energy" (Client: WhiteWave Foods; Agency: The Integer Group)
Bronze: Night At The Museum TREX TREK (Client: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment; Agency: The Borden Agency)

Local, Regional Market - Budget over $1 million
Gold: 7-Eleven/ Simpsons and Kwik-E-Mart (Client: 7-Eleven; Agency: FreshWorks)
Silver:  Maxwell House Brew Some Good (Client: Maxwell House; Agency: OgilvyAction)
Bronze: Charmin NYC Restroom Experience (Client: Procter & Gamble;
Agency: Gigunda Group, Inc.)

Local, Regional Market  - Budget under $1 million
Gold:  SPIDER-MAN WEEK IN NYC (Client: Columbia Tristar  Marketing Group; Agency: NYC & Company)
Silver: Free Food on Your Phone! (Client: Hardee’s; Agency: CellFire, Inc.)
Bronze:  Inspire Change (Client: Seeds of Change; Agency: Alcone Marketing Group)

Multi-Partner Promotion - three or more partners (No budgetary parameters)
Gold: The world is going yellow in celebration of the Simpsons movie (Client:  20th Century Fox; Agency: In-House)
Silver: 7-Eleven/ Simpsons and Kwik-E-Mart (Client: 7-Eleven Agency: FreshWorks)
Bronze:  The Starter Wife multi-partner campaign (Client: USA Network;
Agency: In-House)

Business-to-Business (includes trade promotion) (No budgetary parameters)
Gold:  Gatorade/ All-Stars VPI Program (Client: The Gatorade Company;  Agency: TPN)
Silver: Chase the Extraordinary (Client: InterContinental Hotels Group/Hotel Management Group; Agency: US Concepts)
Bronze: Girls Gone Wired (B2B) (Client: Oxygen Media; Agency: GEM Group, Inc.)

Multi-cultural/Ethnic (No budgetary parameters)
Gold: Scott Dichonario (Client: Kimberly-Clark; Agency: MASS Hispanic Marketing)
Silver: WonkaArte "Dia de los Muertos" Program (Client: Wonka;
Agency: Bromley Communications)
Bronze: Herbal Essences RBD (Client: Procter & Gamble; Agency: Leo Burnett, Arc Worldwide & SMG)

Digital (No budgetary parameters)
Gold:  The Sopranos A&E Connection (Client: A&E Television Network; Agency: Civic Entertainment Group)
Silver: My GRAMMY Moment (Client: The Recording Company; Agency: In-House)
Bronze: Degree / 24 (Client: Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising; Agency: MindShare)

Cause/Community Outreach (No Budgetary parameters)
Gold: Tide CleanStart Mobile Laundromat (Client: Procter & Gamble; Agency: Gigunda Group, Inc.)
Silver:  Yahoo! Be A Better Planet (Client: Yahoo!; Agency: In-House)
Bronze: The National 9/11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center 9/11 Tribute Exhibition (Client: National 9/11 Memorial & Museum; Agency: Octagon, Jack Morton & Weber Shandwick PR)

Experiential Marketing - Budget under $1 million
Gold: Godiva "Decadence Goes Mobile" (Client: Godiva Chocolatier; Agency: Eastwest Marketing Group)
Silver: SPIDER-MAN WEEK IN NYC (Client: Columbia Tristar Marketing Group; Agency: NYC & Company)
Bronze:  Take Off and Tune In (Client: A&E Television Network; Agency: Civic Entertainment Group)

Experiential Marketing - Budget over $1 million
Gold:  7-Eleven/ Simpsons and Kwik-E-Mart (Client: 7-Eleven; Agency: FreshWorks)
Silver: Sony (Alpha) DSLR Tour (Client: Sony; Agency: Gigunda Group, Inc.)
Bronze:  World Vision Experience: Aids  (Client: World Vision Organization; Agency: The Brand Experience)

Shopper Marketing (No budgetary parameters)
Gold: It's a "Tween Thing" at Toys "R" Us (Client: Disney Consumer Products;
Agency: In-House)
Silver: Sony HD Test Drive (Client: Sony; Agency: PowerPact, LLC)
Bronze:  Bounty Re-launch (Client: Procter & Gamble; Agency: The Integer Group)

Age Specific (No budgetary parameters)
Gold: Rescuing Recess (Client: Cartoon Network; Agency: Arc Worldwide)
Gold: McDonald's Shrek (Client: McDonald’s; Agency: Arc Worldwide)
Silver: Hannah Montana MyConcert Memory Book Presented by HP (Client: Disney Online/Hollywood Records/HP; Agency: Disney Online In-House)
Bronze: AT&T World's Loudest Pep Rally (Client: AT&T; Agency: The Marketing Arm)

Small Budget - Budget less than $100,000
Gold: Early Times Reel in a Million (Client: Brown Forman; Agency: PriceWeber)
Silver: Bon Appetite and Bon Voyage; Lactalis USA, the Official Cheese of Ratatouille (Client: Lactalis, USA; Agency: Eric Mower and Associates)
Bronze: Kellogg's Pop-tarts Splitz Create Your Own Webisode (Client: Cartoon Network; Agency: In-House)

New Product Launch (No budgetary parameters)
Gold: GlaxoSmithKline alli Product Launch (Client: GlaxoSmithKline; Agency: Draftfcb Chicago)
Silver: alli U - Hispanic Grass Roots Initiative (Client: GlaxoSmithKline; Agency: Casanova Pendrill)
Bronze: Volkswagen Touareg 2 Launch: The Bourne Ultimatum (Client: Volkswagen; Agency: In-House)

Full campaign summaries are available here on the PMA Website. Congratulations to all the winners.

PMA's Integrated Marketing Conference - Day 1

It's been a very exciting and fully packed day here in Chicago at PMA's Annual Integrated Marketing Conference. I caught a 6:40 flight out of Buffalo and arrived here at the Marriott Downtown in time to check into my room and grab a cup of coffee before the opening remarks kicked off the conference. We went pretty much non-stop all day until after the networking reception which I left at 7:30pm when it was supposed to be wrapping up, but there were still quite a few people mingling around the Grand Ballroom.

It was really good to see again some old friends (like the ladies from SCA Promotions who are the Gold Sponsors of the conference this year), a few other business acquaintances as well as to meet several new people. It appeared to me that most people here really wanted to meet you, talk with you and find out more about what you do. It did seem to be a bit smaller crowd than were at last year's conference, but maybe that's what made it feel a little more personal.

Steven Levitt, author of Freakonomics, did kick us off as the opening keynote speaker...I wrote about his background in my previous post. He admitted that he wasn't a business expert at all and he really didn't talk to us much about marketing, but nonetheless he was very engaging as well as funny. I promised in my last post to be accountable, since accountability is the theme of this year's conference, and share with you some of Steven's insights, so here's a few on how I interrupted them.

The key message that Steven focused on during his hour with us this morning was that most of us marketers make major decisions based on what the customers say versus what they actually do. He shared with us some learnings that came out of several behavioral experiments that were conducted at the University of Chicago to find out what makes people do what they do. They resulted in different outcomes depending on if they were done in the lab vs. the real world. These showed that people's behavior can be greatly affected by their environment and the particular situation that they are put in. This has always been one of the major disadvantages of focus group research. Steven's advised us to try and build a feedback tool into everything that we do since we should not rely on that one time to give the real truth.

After Steven we were treated to Ann Hand who is the former SVP Global Brand Marketing and Innovation for BP. Ann shared with us a really great story of how this brand made an emotional connection with its customers on a global level by fulfilling its promise to make things "a little better" for them. The new Helios Power retail brand campaign was originally launched just a year ago and soon will be integral to BP's 25,000 retail locations worldwide. I asked Ann is she could share her presentation deck with me so that I can cover this story on its own, so I will follow up with her.

There were several other key learnings that were shared with us during the rest of the day that are worthy of their own post; some that I've asked for additional information. Those include speakers from The Coca-Cola Company, OfficeMax, Kraft, ConAgra Foods, 7-Eleven, Heineken USA, Interstate Bakeries (Hostess) and Yahoo.

Tomorrow we have another full day that gets started with keynote speaker Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard. So, I'm going to try and get some sleep now since I've been up since 4 am EST today and really starting to fade. This has nothing to do with the fact that there was some pretty good, complimentary Shiraz wine served at the networking event (sorry I can't remember the name of the winery, but I believe its a brand from Pernod Ricard, one of the sponsors).

I hope all those people that I introduced this blog to today will visit and add their comments. I'm looking forward to hearing from you all as well as to tomorrow. Good Night...

Freakanomics Author, Steven Levitt, to speak at PMA's Conference

In my last post I wrote about my next upcoming trip which is a visit back to Chicago to attend PMA's Annual Integrated Marketing Conference. It starts first thing tomorrow morning, Tues. 4/8, at the Marriott Downtown on Michigan Ave. I'm actually flying in on Southwest in the morning into Midway so I don't have to deal with O'Hare. Also since Chicago is an hour behind those of us on the East Coast, I'm hoping I can make it there in time to hear the welcoming remarks from Mark Mears, Chairman of the Board for PMA and SVP of Sales and Marketing for Universal Studios Hollywood, followed by Bonnie Carlson, President of PMA.

The opening Keynote speaker of the day will be Steven Levitt who is the best-selling author of FREAKONOMICS and currently a professor of economics at the University of Chicago. This book was originally published back in 2005, has sold over 3 million copies worldwide and has been on the New York Times Bestseller list for over two years. I have to admit, however, that I haven't read it. So, I did a little bit of research online this morning to help acquaint myself more with Mr. Levitt and his book.

Freakonomics is a collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. They start off with a bunch of stats and tons of data on a subject and then ask a simple question relating back to everyday life. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality (like "What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?"). Thus the new term for this book: Freakonomics.

Levitt and Dubner are currently working on another book, tentatively titled SuperFreakonomics. You can keep up with them at the Freakonomics blog, which can be found on NYTimes.com. This blog is currently ranked  #59 on Wikio. Today there is a post from Levitt in which he tells the readers that he's stepped down as of April 1st as editor of the Journal of Political Economy, a position that he's held for eight years. He confesses in today's post that this position has given him quite a bit of power since he got to decide whose articles got published and whose didn't. In fact, he admits (jokingly I take it) that he will now loose a big income stream from the bribes he took from some of those writers.

The PMA conference this year is themed Accountability in Action therefore, Levitt will be speaking to us attendees about the "Freakonomics of Accountability". So, stay tuned and I promise to be accountable to my readers and share with you what some of the simple questions and freakish conclusions he discussed with us. Maybe he'll enlighten us on how to survive and market in today's economy! If you've read the book I would love to hear from you and let me know what you think of Freakonomics.

I'll be Blogging at PMA's Annual Integrated Marketing Conference

I'm off next week to attend PMA's (Promotional Marketing Association) Annual Integrated Marketing Conference. It's being held at the Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile in Chicago on Tues., April 8th through Wed., April 9th. Not only is it a great two-day conference packed with great speakers, but it's also is the 25th anniversary of the REGGIE Awards.

This is a sort of anniversary for me as well since last year's PMA's conference was the first event that I covered as a blogger and wrote about on my new blog. I'm very grateful for the PMA for giving me the opportunity last year to cover the event as a brand new member of the blogoshpere and very excited to be invited back again this year to help promote this event and the association.

There's still time to register for the conference or to just attend the REGGIE Awards celebration both. Here's a quick overview of this year's event which is titled "Accountability in Action":

• Carly Fiorina -- “The most powerful woman in business” (Fortune Magazine) shares her views on accountability to all stakeholders
• Steven Levitt -- “If Indiana Jones were an economist, he would be Steven Levitt.” (Wall Street Journal)
• Neil Golden -- first public speaking engagement as CMO of McDonald’s USA, answering to the ultimate boss: the consumer.
• Ann Hand, SVP of Global Brand Marketing and Innovation, BP, shows how she transformed a dinosaur into an environmentally aware “green” company and brand.
• Rick Burton, CMO of the USOC, visits the city that vies to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, with a special guest.
• Beatriz Perez, SVP Integrated Marketing, The Coca-Cola Company -- taking risks with global brands.
• Lisa Klauser, VP of Consumer and Customer Solutions, Unilever -- an industry leader discusses best-of-class Shopper Marketing
• Sally Mueller, Director of Marketing Planning, Target Stores, Andrew Stein, VP Marketing Planning, K-Mart, Bob Thacker, SVP Marketing, OfficeMax, and Rita Bargerhuff, VP Marketing, 7-Eleven, share winning strategies in Integrated Marketing.

The conference will wrap up on Wed. night with the 25th Annual REGGIE Live Awards Ceremony & Gala that will feature 25 Years of the Best Promotion & Integrated Marketing Campaigns as well as a special, intimate live performance by Grammy Award winner Herbie Hancock. His album “River: The Joni Letters” was recently named the 2008 Grammy Winner Album of the Year: Best Contemporary Jazz Album.

So, I'm really looking forward to this event and reconnecting with some friends in the business that I haven't seen in awhile. So, stay tuned for my coverage of the conference over the next couple of weeks and if you're planning on being there please look for me and introduce yourself. I'm very interested to get input from others who are attending as well.

FTC Focuses on CGC, Targeted Advertising, Ads to Children...PMA Law Conference Update

I promised in my post last week to give you an update on what we learned at the PMA Marketing Law Conference when Lydia Parnes from the FTC gave the keynote luncheon address on Friday. Ms. Parnes is the Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection and her appearance was very timely considering all the latest announcements from Facebook and Google on their new ad platforms.

Ed Kabak, the Chief Legal Executive of PMA, introduced Ms. Parnes and noted that during the 29 year history of their Promotion and Marketing Law Conference there have been many speakers from the FTC, but never a Director. So, this was a first.

Ms. Parnes was very well spoken and started off joking that she has been working for the FTC for many years, which means that she must have "started there straight out of high school". She took us back to 1978, when the first PMA Marketing Law Conference took place. Most of the topics on this year's conference schedule were "science-fiction back then and the FTC has been working hard to keep up with all the changes".

There was no Internet Marketing to speak of back in 1978. Instead what we did have was a booming telemarketing industry fueled by the break up of the baby bells along with new technologies. Ms. Parnes reminded us that with new technologies there are those that will try and abuse the system and we had our share of spammers and fraudulent companies back then as well. The FTC got involved at that time with new rules and regulations such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 which lead to the National Do Not Call List that we have today.

Ms. Parnes job is to protect consumers against those that abuse the system and she shared with us the bureau's top three areas that they're currently focusing on: 1) Consumer-Generated Content 2) Targeted Advertising 3) Advertising to Children. Here's what she said about each of these issues:

1) Consumers today are content providers and the FTC has been working with WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) on some new industry guidelines. These have helped to establish a code of ethical principals which include clearly disclosing who the message is coming from. Consumer endorsements that are not true will be looked upon very negatively. Refer a Friend programs which have false from and subject lines will be subject to the largest penalties under the CAN SPAM act. Ms. Parnes referenced Jumpstart Technologies, an Internet marketing company which was offering free movie tickets and disguising it's commercial email messages as personal. They were fined $900,000, the largest penalty to date for illegal spam.

2) Regarding targeted marketing, Ms. Parnes didn't specifically mention Facebook or Google, but instead referenced "these online technologies that enable individual consumers to serve up ads to other individuals. This growing practice is somewhat invisible to most consumers and they need to make sure that the consumer stays in control." Also, she noted that the FTC will question how data will be used and how it will be secured. She did state that the "FTC does not intend to stifle innovation, however is seeking flexible approaches that will give the consumers more control while preventing any problems with the data storage".

3) The top concern with advertising to children is the privacy of those under 13 years of age. Kids are sharing information on social networks and the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is being violated. She specifically mentioned a case with Xanga.com that was fined a million dollars in violation of this rule.  Obesity with our children is another issue that the FTC is focusing on. There is currently a group of twelve major food companies that are partnering with the FTC to address this concern and establish advertising guidelines. I was sitting at the luncheon next to counsel from Campbell Soup who said that they are one of the participating companies. Lastly, the FTC is again focusing on the labeling of movies, videos and music that are inappropriate for children which is not always consistent.

Ms. Parnes ended her talk by saying that we all need to provide better education to consumers and encourages us to engage with the FTC and suggest new ideas. She referenced the FTC Town Hall Forum on E-havioral Advertising that they just hosted on Nov.1-2. This event brought together consumer advocates, industry reps, technology experts, and academics to address the issues raised by tracking consumers' online activities to target advertising. The "Do Not Track" list proposal is an outcome of this forum.

It appeared that the consensus from those that I spoke to at the conference thought the "Do Not Track" list was a good idea. The majority of attendees at the conference were lawyers and they weren't all too familiar yet with the new ad platforms recently announced by Facebook and Google. From what I've been reading, the advertising industry isn't in favor of this proposal. So, it will be interesting to see where and how far this idea goes. I would love to hear further thoughts on this issue from readers here and any other suggestions that you may have.

PMA Marketing Law Conference Asks "Who's In Control?" A Year in Review

PMA's Promotion Marketing Law Conference got underway this morning at the Downtown Chicago Marriott. The main ballroom was packed with a record number of attendees for this 29^th annual event who ranged from legal professionals, regulators, brand marketers and major suppliers in the industry. I haven'€™t been in a room full of so many lawyers since I attended this same event last year.

"Who's in Control Now? Navigating Tumultuous Marketing Changes"€ is the theme to this year's conference. The opening session carried this theme throughout which was presented by Ron Urbach, Esq. Partner, Davis & Gilbert LLP. Ron gave us an entertaining review of the year'€™s major promotional marketing campaigns and developments that would be covered in more detail in the sessions to follow. He even created his own fictional online media site, Ron Tube, which he utilized to showcase video content that he had created for the presentation.

Ron asked the underlying question, "Who'€™s In Control? The consumer or the marketer?"€ His answer was no one and everyone. "It€'s not about control. It's about relationships...relationships with consumers, third parties, and the world that ebbs and flows like a lava lamp in a constant state of motion."

Consumer Generated Content - The Doritos Super Bowl ad contest was by far the most famous of them all and has now gone down in history. We got to see both spots again that Doritos ran and they still got a laugh from the crowd. The Chevy Super Bowl ad was also highlighted. Ron'€™s belief is that CGC is really just another form of content creation and it won't be replacing marketing generated content by any means.

Guerilla Marketing -€“ We all learned this year from The Cartoon Network's promotion that the threat of terrorism is a very seriously issue and you can't play around with anything that even remotely may be associated with it. Ron compared the panic that happened in Boston from this promotion to the famous The War of the Worlds radio broadcast by Orson Wells that was used to promote the premiere of the movie many years ago.

Viral Marketing -€“ Is this the new :30 TV spot? Trust, emotion and the human need to interact really made this tactic take off this year. We were treated to watching Dove'€™s infamous Evolution viral video one more time and were reminded that it won this year'€™s Cannes Grand Prix Award. Ron pointed out that the big buzz really was that this viral video won instead of a TV ad.

Email Marketing - It'€™s still alive and kicking. Ron highlighted the Refer a Friend option as a very popular tool that was utilized very much this past year. However, there are privacy issues that need to be taken into consideration. Users of MySpace had their privacy violated when they received unwanted email messages from a third party that misused this option.

Blogs and Social Media -€“ These became the new media this year. But, just because it'€™s written in the digital world, doesn'€™t necessarily always make it real. Daniel Lyons from Forbes became a celebrity by creating the Secret Diary of Steve Jobs Blog in which he wrote posing as him.

Mobile Marketing -€“ Media is now going portable. This is the new frontier and we'€™re all waiting to see what the courts rule on two class action lawsuits regarding text-messaging promotions will be. Should premium text messaging fees as well as just standard fees be ruled as consideration? If so then it'€™s an illegal lottery. Georgia and California will both be reviewing this soon.

Rebates -€“ After many complaints about delayed fulfillment as well as those that are just too difficult to receive, new rebate best practices were released this year.

Gift Cards -€“ These are great for retailers, but have received negativity from consumers who don't understand some of the limitation issues. More disclosures are now required with these programs which should help eliminate misunderstandings.

So this is a very, very quick overview of Ron's presentation. I didn't even get a chance to tell you about his Ron Tube video with guest Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Rupert Murdoch and Al Gore. Ron summarized at the end by asking us what's at the end of the tunnel, around the bend and is the next thing to change our world. He treated us to this new rap song that was created just for this presentation called "Who's In Control?" by Music 145 on the RONRAPS album produced by D&G Records (Davis & Gilbert). You can view it on the dglaw website. Thanks Ron for a great start to Day One. Day Two'€™s opening presentation has a very hard act to follow.

The FTC's Focus on Privacy Could Affect Online Marketing Including Promotions

be heading back to Chicago this week to attend PMA's 29th Annual Promotion Marketing Law Conference as a guest blogger. It will be such a timely event with all the discussions taking place recently regarding privacy issues on the Internet and now just last week from Facebook's announcement regarding their new advertising platforms. Everyone will be waiting to hear from Friday's luncheon keynote speaker, Lydia Parnes who is the FTC's Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Under Ms. Parnes direction is the Division of Marketing Practices who's primary mission is to respond to the problems of consumer fraud in the marketplace. One of the rules that this division enforces is the Telemarketing Sales Rule which initiated the Do Not Call list. Recent articles and discussions mention that a similar rule is being proposed which would offer consumers the option to be on a "Do Not Track" list. This would enable consumers to basically opt-out of behavioral ad targeting.

The notion of a "Do Not Track" list becoming real is a clear wake-up call to the online marketing industry that we must address concerns of privacy and fraud or else the regulators will do it for us. It would be a terrible blow to the online marketing industry, who according to projections just reported by eMarketer, online advertising as a share of total ad spend will reach 7.4% this year, more than 10% by 2009, and at least 13.3% by the end of 2011. It totaled $16.4 billion in the United States last year and is expected to reach $36.5 billion by 2011. So obviously an approach like the Do Not Call list would hurt the growth of online advertising spending tremendously.

The FTC received further complaints last week from several advocacy groups after Facebook revealed plans of their new ad platforms. The questions being raised included whether sending ads to consumers based on their online behavior violates people's privacy. And it's not just Facebook they are after. MySpace's expanded targeting, which has an even larger audience of minors, is also under attack.

Collecting data on consumers has been the "Killer Ap" of the Internet for marketers. By consumers giving marketers information on their preferences, it enables marketers to give them back more personalized, relevant information and offers. This is a win-win for both groups and has also been one of the major objectives of interactive promotions, such as sweepstakes, contests and games. So, what's the problem?

All these concerns now fall under the FTC's newly created Division of Privacy and Identity Protection also under Ms. Parnes direction. She made the following remarks when the division was announced back in May, 2006.

"This new division -- which consists of more than 30 staff members with expertise in privacy, data security, and identity theft -- addresses emerging consumer privacy matters through aggressive enforcement, as well as rulemaking, policy development, and outreach to consumers and businesses. To be sure, all eight divisions in our Bureau of Consumer Protection adeptly tackle privacy issues, but they also do other, critical consumer protection work. At DPIP, it is all privacy and security, all the time."

I don't know if Ms. Parnes has added to her staff of 30 since then, but it would certainly seem like they have their work cut out for them now. How they plan to enforce a Do Not Track list policy and how much is it going to cost us all is my big question. So, it will be interesting to hear Ms. Parnes' remarks and what she'll actually be be able to share with us come Friday on these topics. So, stayed tuned and I'll be sure to give you an update here.

I'll Be Blogging at PMA's Annual Promotion Marketing Law Conference

I started off this week with a post written by promotional marketing lawyer, Ed Chansky, which I hope will be a regular featured guest blogger here. New rules and regulations affecting the marketing industry today are constantly in a state of motion and it's an area that we marketers need to keep a close eye on. So with that said, I wanted to announce that this year I will be a guest blogger at PMA's 29th Annual Promotion Marketing Law Conference taking place Nov. 15 & 16 in Chicago. Since my business, DDC Marketing Group, focuses on helping brands and their agencies develop interactive promotions, such as sweepstakes, contests, and games, this event is a must attend for me. Last year's event was very informative and this year's I expect it to be even more.

"Who's in Control Now? Navigating Tumultuous Marketing Change" is this year's event title. The Conference will feature 95 speakers, 40 sessions and 16 roundtables giving special attention to new rules and developments in marketing law including:

• In Depth Coverage on Sweepstakes, Contests and Games on the Internet
• Extensive Coverage on User-Generated Content                            
• The Latest on Wireless and its Impact On Privacy, Sweeps and Contests
• Insights on Cause & Green Marketing      
• New Developments in Advertainment & Sports Marketing    
• A Unique Panel on Promotion and Advertising to Children

Plus, additional topics such as the Olympics/sports marketing, new rules and strategies for the Internet, wireless and mobile marketing, product placements, future technologies, viral and guerilla marketing, celebrities/talent, regulatory enforcement, the gaming/gambling interface, branded entertainment, retail marketing, targeting & profiling, privacy protection, federal and state regulations and rebates and gift cards.

Keynote speeches will be from Congressman Bobby L. Rush, Chairman, Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection; Lydia Parnes, Esq. from the FTC; and Brett Yormark, President & CEO of Nets Sports and Entertainment.

Many of the country's major brands will be represented and of course there will be some networking and socializing time. So, I'll be on my way back to Chicago to try and keep up with this fast changing world of promotional marketing law. This way my readers can stay up to date as well as I can help my clients comply with the new laws, regulations and policies. I guess it's up to us to keep some control.