Numbers and rankings are everywhere.   They make intangible marketing insights tangible.  For instance, they inform financial institutions and insurance companies about credit scores, who to target and who is a greater risk.  Today our attention is on information overload.  We are swimming, or some may say drowning, in the wake of an ever increasing data pool.  There are new metrics from Twitter and Facebook such as “likes” and “page views”.   Social Media advertising spend is expected to increase from $2.4 billion in 2011 to $8.3 billion in 2015.  Facebook is approaching 700 million users and Google handles over 11 billion queries per month.  There are over 5 billion mobile subscribers worldwide. Companies like Nielsen, Simmons, and Forrester are sifting through the 2010 Census data to help marketers determine which statistics are irrefutable and how to allocate their marketing dollars.  From declining birth rates to multi-generational households, from brick & mortar shopping to PayPal purchases, the consumer of today has changed.

Numbers are a reference point.  As marketers, we need to continue to finds ways to measure our consumers’ buying patterns and the products we offer them in the most objective way possible.  Statistics can be a critical variable for marketing strategy.  How many online friends, LinkedIn connections or how our blogs are rated have as much importance as we are willing to allow.  Data-driven decision making must be measured and evaluated in as objective way as possible.  Identifying meaningful data patterns and creating custom scoring models provides the business intelligence that defines our industry.

Given our obsession with numbers and the information overload, we must still focus on the intangibles that cannot be measured such as experience, judgment, and wisdom.

Always,

Insurers must have a unique value proposition, relevant differentiated benefits, and listen to the voice of their customers. Aflac is a good case study of an insurance carrier who has spent time researching, defining, and building their brand. Since January 2000, Aflac has used a duck as their spokesperson. This supplemental insurance carrier of health and life products is the gold standard for exceptional branding and marketing. Beginning with their tag line, “We’ve Got You under Our Wing”, the insurer delivers a brand promise of trust and protection that the consumer’s insurance needs will be taken care of when the time arises. The brand promise of Insurance for Daily Living is represented along with the duck mascot throughout the advertising campaigns across all media. My favorite ad was in People Magazine which said “You Don’t Know Quack”, referring to insurance.

The duck has become a fundamental piece in all of the marketing communications. Aflac’s message is delivered clearly by utilizing the duck mascot as a recognizable spokesperson. The icon now resides within the minds and hearts of its customers and prospects. Through the use of the mascot, prospective policyholders are able to identify stability, trust, and protection as part of the products they are considering for purchase.

Currently my favorite duck’s voice is silent.  I miss hearing his spirited quack.  It had the ability to identify an entire corporate entity with one word – Aflac.  Since the first branding campaign, Aflac’s brand recognition has more than taken flight.  This icon has managed to capture the hearts and minds of consumers.  One lucky fan could even be the new voice of the duck.  Earlier this month, 11,000 people applied for the job in person or online through YouTube or QuackAflac.com.  The current search for the new voice of the duck has connected current and future policyholders of all age groups.  These consumers are now engaged and emotionally involved with the insurance carrier.  This is critical when selling any product or service, not just insurance.

As of the time I am writing this blog, Aflac has 10,465 Twitter followers and 250,682 people who like Aflac Duck on Facebook.  The social media aspect of this branding campaign provides a personality and a personal connection between Aflac and its customers.  Although this brand advertising cannot be measured, this anatid has achieved brand follower’s brilliance.

Always,

There are approximately 622,000,000 hands in the United States.  Hands help us form powerful connections. They caress an elderly parent’s face, soothe a crying child, and pet our beloved animals.  They pass out business cards, sign contracts, and introduce us to new partners.  They also have the ability to click on our offers, write for more information, or call to buy a product.

Hands are a vital part of our interpersonal communications.  Without our hands, we would not be able to post 140 Million Tweets, send 5 Billion Text Messages and 465.7 Million Emails, open 584 Million pieces of mail or redeem 8.2 Million Coupons each day.  We repeatedly strain our digits by texting, twittering, blogging, and using our cell phones.  It is no wonder that there are 8 Million people whose hands suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome.

Hands also select which products, services, and offers a consumer is interested in.  These qualified hand raisers are consumers who identify themselves as a prospective customer by giving their contact information.  They click on a website or respond to a DRTV advertisement, and want to be connected with relevant brands of their choice.  Marketers are able to find hand raisers through paid and organic search, social media, email marketing and other lead generation opportunities.  Behavioral targeting and data mining also allow for customer centric marketing.

One marketer, above all others, is capitalizing on the power of hands.   Allstate has incorporated hands into its logo and tag line, “You’re in good hands with Allstate”.  The hands help convey a brand promise that the insurance carrier will deliver to its customers.

Our messages need to be powerful enough to gain the hand raiser’s attention.  As marketers, we need to continue to search for qualified hand raisers who will find our brand and offer impossible to resist…just like the Krupp Diamond.

Always,

I recently had to go to the doctor for my annual checkup. I needed to get my vaccinations, clean my teeth, and maintain my good health. I realized when my Pet Parents paid the bill that they didn’t have pet insurance. My veterinary routine care coverage could have been reimbursed. There are more than 10 insurance carriers selling pet insurance. They include: Hartville, Embrace, Pet Plan USA, VPI, AKC, Pets Best, 24 Pet Watch, Purina Care, Healthy Paws, Petfirst, Healthcare, and Trupanion.

VPI, which is owned by Nationwide, has insured more than one million of my friends since 1982. My friends are mostly dogs but they insure cats too. Some carriers even insure fish, reptiles, and birds. These animals are not my friends.

VPI has a major medical plan which provides reimbursement for Veterinary expenses based on a defined benefit schedule. They even reimburse my Pet Parents if I get cancer, have an accident, or need surgery. While I am a pure breed, they insure all types of mixed- breed dogs too. Pet Parents can choose flexible pricing and customize the plan to fit their needs and budget.

Some Pet Parents can afford to spend more money than others. The maximum annual benefit is $14,000. That’s a lot of money that can be used to buy me more toys and bones. The best part is that all of this renews annually so I am protected every year. There are certain conditions that are not covered but I could not tell you what they are since I can’t read the fine print and they don’t make dog glasses. I can be protected for about a dollar a day. I live in New York, and the rates are based on my age (which I won’t reveal on the Internet), size, geography, plan type and my species. In my case, I am a very smart dog.

I love to go for car rides, especially in the summer when I can run on the beach. I can’t use a seat belt. I worry that my Pet Father is a bad driver and could have an accident. Pet insurance is so important that even Met Life, Farmers and Progressive have a travel accident rider to cover me if I am hurt due to a human’s bad driving skills.

Did you know that pet insurance generated $400 million in premium in 2010 and is expected to grow to $600 million by 2013? More than 65% of households have a pet. There are 77.5 million dogs like me that need Pet Parents to protect, pamper and love us. We want to live longer too, and have insurance and treatment options like our owners. I don’t have a long term care policy like my parents and I am dependent on them to be my caregivers as I get older. I know that Pet Parents treat us like one of the family and will do anything to make us well if we get sick.

After all, aren’t I Man’s Best Friend?

Always,

As I continue to get older, it becomes more obvious that the youth side of the equation rules advertising and marketing.  I am in an industry that wants to target the 20-to-34 year old age demographic.  This coveted age group does not spend as much and has less disposable income than their older counterparts.  The 20-to-34 year old age group consists of 63 million individuals whose annual spending is $1 trillion.  Insurance carriers and financial services marketers believe that if you target this population when they are young, you will have them as loyal customers throughout their life cycle.

They are correct in this belief.  But they are making a mistake by being right.

Are marketers having a Senior Moment when they forget to focus on the Alpha Boomers?   This age group spends and buys more and is the fastest growing demographic segment of the population.  Every seven seconds, someone turns age 55.  This 55-to-64 year old age group makes up 78 million of the population and has an annual spend of $2 trillion.  They spend 38% of all consumer package goods dollars.  They rank Facebook and YouTube as their favorite sites, buy second homes, and believe that 60 is the ‘New Face of 40′.

As a member of this generation, I feel a connection with every other Alpha Boomer.  We are a more youthful and relevant generation than any other maturing generation before us.  But how do we compete when so many facets of life are dedicated to the word “young”?  I remember being 10 years old and thinking that someone who was 50 years old sounded ancient to me.  I think everyone would agree that George Clooney is anything but ancient.

I resent getting advertisements for denture creams, retirement homes, assisted living, and long-term care.  Cosmetic advertising targets “aging women” who are in their 40s.  It is a sad commentary to arrive at middle age and wonder why our story is no longer worth telling.  Marketers don’t want our advertising dollars the same way they did when we were younger.  I am open to advertisements that acknowledge what I am interested in, especially cosmetic advertising.  These products are just as relevant to me as a woman in her 40s.  I have the disposable income to purchase these products.  I should be addressed with as much passion as the younger generations.

Two books were recently published that talk about aging gracefully: Fortytude by Sarah Brokaw, and Never Say Die by Susan Jacoby.  While I will read these books, I vow to continue exploring all possibilities of maintaining my youthful outlook, and spending my dollars on teeth whiteners, Botox, facials, and anti-wrinkle creams.  My birth years do not have anything to do with the products I am going to buy. Vitality + Spending Power ≠ One’s Age.  While I cannot control my wrinkles, I can control how and when they develop.  If Snoopy looks this good at age 60, I want to know that dog’s secret.

Always,

In today’s connected world, I feel like I have lost my own voice. I yearn for days filled without pings and beeps. Yet, I have a mobile phone, Kindle, Apple iPad, and Blackberry. I am blogging, texting, tweeting, writing on my Facebook wall, and am LinkedIn. I am connected now more than ever before –  just not in person. I have “friended” people all over the world. All of this has pulled me away from face to face conversations.

I have joined the ranks of the 93% of Americans with cell phones and contributed to the 1.8 trillion messages sent from June 2009 to June 2010. I check my messages constantly when I am traveling for business or pleasure. I no longer have down time in airports, supermarkets, in my car, or when I walk my dog.

I am a part of the Connectivity Revolution which is creating a lot of divided attention. Is it time to step back and reassess our behavior? Continual connectivity is not necessarily defined as making real connections. The ability to be available to everyone in our own social circle, any time, can potentially weaken connections made with people in person.

The quality of time we spend with those who are important to us is affected by technology. I no longer assume I have someone’s full attention especially when he or she is reading a Blackberry message under the conference table in a business meeting. I am not beyond reproach. All of this behavior is like putting each other on temporary pause.

I do believe that technology allows us to communicate with our customers past and present in an integrated multichannel environment. We as a society have become available to each other 24/7. Despite the fact that technology has allowed us to communicate easier than ever before, 2010 was the year we stopped talking to each other. Books are now being written such as Human Expression in the Age of Communication Overload and Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other. The repercussions of our mobile society are yet to be fully understood. The chapter will not be fully written for generations to come.

I do believe that all of these technological advances have paved the way for reevaluating who and what matters to each of us in our lives. The other day I was so distracted from all my messages, webinar invites, and potential new “friends”, that I almost put the leash on my Blackberry instead of my dog, Oscar.

Always,

Not only did I see the Lizard while I was eating my Raisinets and butter popcorn, but I was also told I was “In Good Hands” from Allstate. Some people find commercials before the movie starts as an annoying part of going to the theater. I call it good marketing and brand building.

Going to the movies is the #1 leisure activity among adults. These 90 second versions of a commercial, to a captive audience in the cinema, reach more than 1.4 billion movie theater goers annually.

Our research shows that among the top 3 personal Auto Insurance carriers – Allstate, Geico, and Progressive, more than 1,500 different direct mail and email communications for new customer acquisition, loyalty, and retention initiatives reached hundreds of millions of consumers in the past year. This does not include the billions of impressions from television, print, online, outdoor media, and your local multiplex.

Driving home after seeing the latest blockbuster, I started to think about the three competitive ads I had just seen. It made me think about my own auto insurance rates and wonder if the advertisers had reached any of the 16% of uninsured drivers who may have been in the movies with me. More importantly, it made me think that with all the new technology being used in cinematography, it won’t be long before we see the Gecko in 3D while eating Goobers.

Always,

I want to share with you the best one-to-one marketing campaign I have personally experienced. Every year on my birthday, I visit my money in either Atlantic City or Las Vegas. I am a bored quarter slot machine player who is unable to pick a number at roulette on her way to lose at the black jack table by splitting a pair of Kings. I certainly wouldn’t bet on my winning streak in any casino. I am just another small time gambler who enjoys the thrill of the game. And I have nothing on Daniel Negreanu, one of the world champions of Poker. But what I do know is good marketing.

Since Borgata Hotel and Casino opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey, I have been a loyal customer. I visit a few times a year, eat in their restaurants, and don’t even have a casino host to help me make a reservation. Imagine my surprise when I received the note below on October 26th:

Borgata sent me a beautiful chocolate birthday cake. Adrea Rubin, the insignificant gambler, who returns year after year to visit her losses was celebrated and remembered on her birthday.

One-to-one marketing makes a unique product offering for each customer. It can be used for determining a consumer’s needs and their lifetime value to a company. In this consumer choice world we all live in, we must interact with our customers and personalize our products and services to give the customer exactly what they want. Borgata certainly knows how to run a loyalty marketing campaign.

Birthday marketing is a proven strategy to help grow sales. A wise friend of mine believes that we must make our customers fall in love with our products and services over and over again. Borgata has definitely made me fall in extreme like this year. Watch out, Steve Wynn.  I can’t wait to see what Dave Coskey has in store for me next year – I may just have to increase my bet!

Always,

This has been an extraordinary journey for my company over the years. As you can see, our new website reflects an evolving marketing landscape serving clients in a variety of industries from insurance and financial services to large brand retailers. We have been priviledged to have relationships with customers like Mutual of Omaha and Fingerhut who have allowed us to help make a difference in their marketing efforts for more then 25 years. Yes, we have a new and exciting look but we will still offer the same unique customer acquisition, retention, reactivation, media, interactive, and data management solutions that drive our clients’ business growth. That has been our hallmark for over 3 decades, and that isn’t changing.

Our focus will continue to be the dedication to our clients and their business challenges that require multichannel data driven expertise and integration across all media channels. We have always been conversation starters. Our new Blog called To The Point will enable us to start  a unique and different dialogue. And bring to you relevant stories, information, statistics, marketing trends, videos, guest bloggers and what we believe is important to share with you.

For those who know me, you know that – To The Point is the perfect title for what this Blog should be called. The hallmark of our success is because we tell it like it is.  For those of you  who do not know me or Adrea Rubin Marketing,  I think you will find that we have an innovative and fresh approach to business and marketing challenges.  Please join us in our continued journey of media integration and forward thinking.

Always,