#93: Arrogance, magicians, an open letter to speakers, Patagonia, and great B2B content...
Happy Sunday, and Happy Hanukkah!
To MPB2B 2018 attendees: As promised, last year's slew of 30+ ways to create B2B buzz can be downloaded here. Recording here. Please reply directly for a copy of this year's presentation on attention, trust, and change.
Bonus: Something weird happened at the B2B Forum. What does a CEO look like?
In edition #93 of The World's Best Newsletter:
1. Why I Brought a Magician to a Marketing Conference
2. Brand arrogance is making buyers distrust marketing
3. Patagonia lives its values
4. An Open Letter to My Speaker Brothers
5. A bot to prevent journalists from quoting too many men
6. Payless's fake luxury store
7. Two examples of real life B2B content in the wild
8. Quote of the week: "that s**t doesn't work..."
Let's get into it.
1. Why I Brought a Magician to a Marketing Conference
I've gone from marching bands to a professional magician. Read why I brought one to the MarketingProfs B2B Forum, and some tips and advice for all marketers going into 2019.
Bonus: I reveal the secrets behind two common tricks in the article. I'd be a terrible magician.
2. Brand arrogance is making buyers distrust marketing
In that article I share a troubling statistic:
Almost 70% of consumers don’t trust advertising and 42% distrust brands, seeing them as part of the establishment and therefore ‘remote, unreachable, abstract and self-serving’, according to a new study.
This is partly due to lip-service that many companies are giving to values and purpose.
A big part of the problem, according to Trinity Mirror, is the “arrogance” of brands adopting an ill-fitting purpose, leading to increased cynicism among consumers. The research says 58% of adults don’t trust a brand until they have seen ‘real world proof’ that it has kept its promises.
“There can be huge exaggeration around purpose for some brands, to the point it is incredibly far-fetched,” Zoe Harris, group marketing director at Trinity Mirror, tells Marketing Week.
“It started off with a few brands having a genuine purpose, but it’s now gone to such an extent where it’s a one-off ad campaign or we see it on the side of packaging. It’s ridiculous.”
Yup. Read more here.
Bonus: Read "Are you borrowing your brand purpose?"
3. Patagonia lives its values
Here's an example of how to do it right -- Patagonia doesn’t just say they are environmentally conscious, they made headlines this week after donating $10M in tax savings (due to the recent tax changes in the US) to climate change prevention initiatives.
CEO Rose Marcario says in her post:
We have always paid our fair share of federal and state taxes. Being a responsible company means paying your taxes in proportion to your success and supporting your state and federal governments, which in turn contribute to the health and well-being of civil society.
Literally putting their money where their mouth is. How many other brands are this dedicated to the values they publicize (or exploit?) Kudos.
4. An Open Letter to My Speaker Brothers
At the B2B forum, I had the chance to meet Kathy Klotz-Guest and was immediately blown away in equal parts by her smart wit, and by the story of incredible inequality she's faced in the marketing conference community.
Read her open letter to "my speaker brothers" in which Kathy tells a story of being taken for a ride by a conference organizer who clearly considered her an afterthought, once he realized he didn't have enough women on stage.
She was treated poorly, and with immense empathy f gives smart advice that this simply won't change unless all of us speak up.
Reminder: 70% of event speakers are men, via Bizzabo.
5. A bot to prevent journalists from quoting too many men
In a similar imbalance, 79% of people quoted in the Financial Times are male, so the paper developed a bot that uses pronouns and analysis of first names to determine whether the source is a male or a female. Section editors are then alerted if they are not doing enough to feature women in their stories.
Reminder: 50.8% of the world is female. Just in case you forgot.
Thank you Stephan for the heads up here!
6. Payless's fake luxury store
File this one under "exposing the absurdity of retail."
Payless opened a fake luxury store 'Palessi' to see how much people would pay for $20 shoes. Turns out - a lot.
More in AdWeek.
7. Two examples of real life B2B content in the wild
Two smart friends of mine, Shawna Wright of State Street and Liz Joyce of Formlabs recently got some well-deserved press in Chief Marketer.
The article reveals how the financial giant speaks to the world in a more human personable way through its "Listen" microsite, and how the 3D printing company brings hugely emotional stories to life.
I just love when good work (and smart marketers) get their chance in the spotlight. You go girls.
8. Quote of the week
"That whole 'so you can have it all.' Nope, that's a lie. And it's not always enough to lean in, because that s--t doesn't work all the time."
- MICHELLE FREAKING OBAMA in a book event this weekend promoting her memoir (the best-selling hardcover book of 2018, selling 2M copies in less than a month.)
While many articles are focused on the fact that she used a swear word, this Bustle piece explains the Lean In shortcomings well:
Generally speaking, the idea of "leaning in" says that women should do what they can to assume leadership roles within their companies and communities instead of falling into more subordinate positions. The term was first coined by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who was largely focused on gender equality in the workplace when she wrote a book about the concept, but it has grown to encompass the idea that woman can essentially "have it all" — i.e. be both an attentive family member and a successful career women, if only they embrace the challenge.
Critics, however, have claimed that the idea of "leaning in" puts too much pressure on women. "Because unlike most men, women — particularly women with children — are still expected to work that 'second shift' at home," Rosa Brooks wrote for The Washington Post in February 2014, when many were still digesting the idea of "leaning in." "Men today do more housework and childcare than men in their fathers’ generation, but women today still do far more housework and childcare than men."
Unfortunately, the substance of this statement is going to get overshadowed by the sizzle of a former First Lady getting real in public with some foul language.
Personally, I loved it.
Have a great week ahead,
Katie
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Content Marketing Roundtable: What You Need to Know for 2019 -- join me for this live webinar event December 11th at 1:00pm EST with Daniel Waas, Elle Woulfe, and me! Hosted by Sandra Chung at Mention.
Tis the Season of Freelance Writers - a live event December 19th with Boston Content, meant for freelance writers and the companies who hire them. Join us (and Ann Handley!) for a series of fireside chats. Note: 50% sold out so get your ticket! Only $5.00.
Anyone on this list in Sweden? I'll be in town February 6 2019 to speak with the Stockholm Marketing Association at their CMO of the Year event. Their theme is "the unfiltered truth..." enough said ;)
Join me for the MeritDirect Marketing Experience, March 6-7, 2019 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin, TX.
PLAY 2019 from Brightcove is May 14th-16th, 2019. Let's talk video and how it moves buyers from apathy to action. Join us in Boston
I've got a fancy new speaking page for 2019 -- check it out and book me to speak.