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Absolutely my pleasure to be able to be here again. I’ve been able to participate in a number of “student days” in the past and I’ve always very much enjoyed the conversations and the opportunity to meet future automotive industry leaders.

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Someone tell me what/who you think is the most valuable / recognizable Brand in North America right now?

…………..

What I would like you to do is to draw the iconic “Apple”

Source - Business Review Mag Feb 2014

Apple

Google

Microsoft

Walmart

IBM

GE

Amazon

Coca-Cola

Verizon

AT&T

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Reversed Apple – how many drew correctly?

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Amazing isn’t it. The millions of dollars and impressions however;…..

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Won’t tell you a lot of what we do at this time.

Below the line – no real “consumer advertising”

Our business is built on reputation and word of mouth

Everyone has a challenge, problem, obstacle –we’re here to find ways to take them away or break them down.

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What we do allows us to provide services and solutions to Companies and Brands such as these.

How many here are interested in a career in marketing?

Identify audience candidates – what do you think about doing? What does it mean to be a marketer to you?

What do you think someone like me looks for in a young person like you interested in marketing?

Post secondary education

•Discipline to complete projects and meet deadlines – organizational skills and ability to prioritize are key

•You must be a self-starter

•Necessity to multi-task

•Resourcefulness – you need to do your homework to “do your homework”

•Personality, character traits and worldliness

•Communication skills

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Such a simple process…

•Each day there are 00’s of competing companies looking to create those memorable advertising campaigns and promoting the heck out of it so that when you need or want what they have, that’s who you are going to go to.

If for example, I need a new pick-up truck I only need to decide whether I want the fuel economy of a Ram 1500 -13% more efficient than a Ford Ecoboost, the toughness of a Chevy’s high strength steel (just in case I’m being chased by a bear) or the increased towing capacity offered by Ford with their revolutionary military grade all aluminum body.

•Does advertising work? Advertising absolutely works in bringing awareness. Especially when the creative is truly outstanding and it goes “viral” meaning, I can count on thousands even millions like you to share and promote “my message’. It leaves a lasting impression….doesn’t it?

Exercise # 1.

•30 seconds to write down 5 “advertisers” that you can remember from the last few weeks - give me the brand, the product, service or message.

Did anyone get 5?

How many of you were able to list just 3 in 30 seconds?

Is there anyone who couldn’t get 3?

•How many of you listed any automotive services or brands? Pennzoil (Platinum

with new PurePlus technology) , Castrol Edge (liquid engineering) Midas (tires), Canadian Tire (tires)? I don’t know why they have such a hard time building market share – seems pretty simple, they just need to create more memorable advertising and buy more of your viewing time.

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In just 8 days, Ship My Pants went viral with over 15 million online views – before it hit TV

By the end of 2013, it had over 30 million views and was #11 on Unruly’s Top Viral Ads of all time

Accumulated over 160 million social impressions – a value estimated to be 49% greater than a $3.8M Super Bowl spot and inspired more than 100 parodies and remixes uploaded to You Tube.

Less than $1M in actual media spending led to average store to home monthly sales of $1.4M – an almost 300% increase in incremental sales

Where is KMart today?

At one time Kmart was a leader in supplying quality discount merchandise

$37B in sales in 2000 with over 2000 stores

$12B in 2014 with less than ½ store count

We’re not going to get into a case study on the demise of Kmart today but what is one of the primary reasons why even successful marketing campaigns either don’t work at all or only provide short term gain at best?

Because someone/something failed to deliver

Kmarts ads said “if you can’t find it in store, we’ll order it and ship it to you. Well guess what, consumer’s couldn’t find it in store and although the “go ahead and ship to me” worked, are consumers continuing to frequent Kmart stores if they get there and what there after isn’t there?

They let the consumer down. They lost trust.

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“They” being the Brand.

When I display this logo, what can you tell me about the Brand?

Volvo – Safe Cars

BMW –Ultimate Driving Experience

Honda – Reliability, low maintenance, high re-sale

Brands are known for something

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And what is the effect when a Brand loses trust?

By September end - Cost VW about $36B in market valuation

$18B in fines

US share price went from a 52 week high of $52 to $25.30 last Friday

Customer expectations have never been higher and brand strength is king.

The importance of your personal brand. What do you stand for? What will you be known for?

What will others think of you and how will that affect what you do or are able to do?

And why is managing and protecting a brand so much more important or critical today?

Other keys to Marketing Success

Mobile optimization will be a deal maker or a deal breaker

Engagement and personal connection is vital

Total integration is the way forward –phone, tablet, laptop…all need to be seamless

Social responsibility will attract more long-term customers

Content marketing is the new SEO

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Because damage to your reputation is instant and can be significant.

Pope Benedict 2005 – followed Pope John.

Pope Francis 2013

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We’ve spent a bit of time on the Brand. Is a product a brand?

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Brands that build a successful reputation and maintain their “promise” stand the test of time even though some of their products may be complete failures

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PRODUCTS:

They have properties that when combined together do something for customers. The problem is that within any given category, most products perform similar functions. There’s very little differentiation. Ingredients are ingredients and they tend to be the same across a category.

Products are all about what they do for people. Products fulfill a customer’s needs.

Functions, ingredients and needs -- that’s what makes up a product.BRANDS:

Brands are quite different because they don’t just cover a customer’s needs, they fulfill a customer’s wants.

We don’t fall in love with products -- we fall in love with brands. Brands offer a promise and an emotion. Brands are about how they make people feel. Brands fulfill a customer’s wants

DIFFERENCE:

Coffee is the product displayed in the earlier slide and caffeine is the ingredient. I could get it literally anywhere - Tim’s, the corner cafe or even at home. But I choose Starbucks.

Starbucks is the brand in this case, and the experience at Starbucks is the emotion I want in the morning. I want a Starbucks coffee because of the unique experience I get and from how it makes me feel. It prepares me for the day ahead and makes me productive in the morning. With Starbucks coffee, I am ready! I want Starbucks for how it makes me feel.

•How many of you drive and pay for your own maintenance? Where do you go? Why do you go there? Was that your first time or a repeat visit? Did you return because they sent you an email, a text or called to remind you of your need for a service or did your vehicle remind you?

What was the last service on your vehicle? Do you have any idea what brand of (E.g.) motor oil they used at your last service? Did you ask for any specific brand? Why did the shop choose that brand? Because that’s all

their supplying auto parts store carries? Because there is some other value proposition that that oil brand offered to your shop?

•If Midas or Canadian Tire are offering a $49.95 winter service package and the NAPA AUTOPRO’s or the Ford dealers offers the same basic package only its twice as much, why is it that Midas or Canadian Tire don’t own a much bigger share of the market? There must be something more than just the product or service being offered and what is that?

•Those are the kinds of questions and challenges that our automotive clients face everyday and that’s the world in which I play. It is full of endless opportunity and its simply waiting for more bright minds like yours to address those challenges. That marketing in the aftermarket.

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Let’s look at marketing from an opportunity stand-point for a minute.

Who do these companies primarily advertise to? Consumers.

And where do you think most of their marketing campaigns are put together? Canada or the US? Mostly US and “Canadian ized”

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Now on the screen behind me is but a small list of those that are competing for share and sales in the Canadian automotive marketplace. And many of those you see listed manage a myriad of brands and even more product lines.

Where do you think you have a better opportunity to be an “automotive marketer” in Canada?

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And who can you call when you need contact info to reach any of those companies?

Right! The same folks that played host to you today – your friends at AIA Canada.

Thank you for your time today Ladies & Gentlemen