SFAMA Presents: A Social Media Panel on Old Spice

Here’s another event that I had attended in August. SFAMA rounded up 4 prominent marketing experts for a panel discussion on the success of the Old Spice campaign. Here are my notes from the event…

• The Old Spice commercial was done tastefully… Not at the expense of women, unlike Axe.
• In social media, action is better than inaction
• Social media expects honesty rather than perfection.
• It’s about the commitment to social media interactions rather than simply campaigns
• Be ready to expose everything bit have a process to deal with situation. People are talking about you regardless
• Participate, measure, monitor
• In social media, the rich get richer
• Resonate with the “lifestyle” of your audience
• “give it time”… It take time to build a brand
• Social media… You get what you put in
• There HAS to be ROI though… Measure the engagement
• Should be treated as an OpEx and something that everyone in the company should participate in

Girls In Tech: The Fast Track of Mariam Naficy

Back in August I attended a Girls in Tech presentation with Mariam Naficy, the founder of minted.com. Mariam is a serial entrepreneur who found an early success with eve.com shortly after graduating from business school. Here are the notes I captured from the session:

On female purchase power…
Women are responsible 58% of spending online & 70% of spending offline. Lots of potentials to tap into.

On career goals….
Cut to the chase and get to the end goal as soon as possible. If you have an idea or vision, pursue it now. Don’t wait.

On business plans…
Biz plans are always flawed. A flawed business plan doesn’t mean you can’t be successful.

Be responsive.

On capitalization stragey…
Financial strategy in the beginning is important. Don’t over- or under-capitalize.

Be pragmatic

On marketing…
Now’s a good time to build brands through traditional media. Buy remnants in magazines. There are also lots of innovation in affiliate channels (ie: paid banner for target blogs)

Experiment lots. Seeding helps.

On ideas…
Most great ideas aren’t recognized in the beginning.

On oneself…
Believe in yourself and not care too much about what other ppl say or think.

Talk to your customers.