Todd Merry is the CMO of Delaware North, a gigantic company that you many not have heard of but have probably interacted with. How is that possible? Well, first here are a couple of key facts–Delaware North is privately held yet has revenues of more than $2.6 billion and has 55,000 employees worldwide. Those employees work around the globe at venues like the…
Social customer service is becoming more important to a company’s success than ever before. What was once primarily used as an opportunity for good PR and marketing strategies is now an integral piece of the customer service puzzle. When a company publicly engages with their customers via social it shows their followers they are not afraid to openly discuss any…
Quite honestly, I’ve been neglecting TheDrewBlog as I wrapped up my first book, The CMO’s Periodic Table: A Renegade’s Guide to Marketing. Which, of course, it’s not without irony since one of the mandatories to effective blogging (that I prescribe to others in the book) is consistent output not to mention the fact that TheDrewBlog has been the wellspring for most of the book! That…
Putting aside TV’s Big Bang Theory, America is not exactly into science. We celebrate sports stars over scientists, rock ‘n rollers over researchers and movie starts over mathematicians. It shouldn’t be a surprise therefore that our teenagers rank #36 in the world in their understanding of math and science. One could link this to a broader trend towards anti-intellectualism and the…
This is the last but not least of my interviews in preparation for our panel called Why CMOs Won’t Invest More in Social Media at The Social Media Shake-up. This time, Bill Koleszar, CMO at American Family Care, gives me the prescription for overcoming his primary marketing challenges which currently exclude social media. That’s not to say Bill doesn’t see social playing…
Talking to Scot Safon, the former CMO of The Weather Channel, about social media is like revisiting a day at Disneyworld with a nine-year-old. Bursting with enthusiasm, they can’t possibly tell you fast enough all of the things they enjoyed, rarely recollecting the negatives while maintaining an unabated commitment to revisit the newest attractions as soon as possible. That said, Safon’s enthusiasm…
Next week at the Social Media Shake-Up, I have the privilege of moderating a panel called Why CMOs Won’t Invest More in Social Media. Based on our pre-panel discussions, it should be a lively conversation featuring three terrific CMOs: Katharine Mobley of WeCareCard, Scot Safon formerly of The Weather Channel and Bill Koleszar of American Family Care. Why this panel? From…
This is part 2 of my interview with Daniel Lubetzky, founder and CEO of KIND Snacks and author of Do the KIND Thing, a book I’d recommend to anyone, especially those intrigued by the notion of doing well in business while doing good. In this post, we dive deeply into the evolution of KIND’s loyalty building activities. Several items of…
Once a decade or so, I fall in love with a book by a business founder. In the 90’s it was Herb Kelleher’s Nuts, the inspiring story from the founder of Southwest Airlines. In the aughts it was S. Truett Cathy’s Eat More Chikin Inspire More People, a remarkable rundown on the rise of Chick-fil-a. [Though I don’t share Cathy’s politics, I couldn’t…
Once a decade or so, I fall in love with a book by a business founder. In the 90’s it was Herb Kelleher’s Nuts, the inspiring story from the founder of Southwest Airlines. In the aughts it was S. Truett Cathy’s Eat More Chikin Inspire More People, a remarkable rundown on the rise of Chick-fil-a. [Though I don’t share Cathy’s politics, I couldn’t…