Women Still Not on a Level Playing Field...

A new government report found that women have made few inroads into management positions over the past decade and still face a persistent pay gap with their male counterparts. The findings, released today by the Government Accountability Office, and reported in the New York Times, showed that in 2007, the latest data available, women accounted for about 40% of managers in the U.S. work force. That number is up just slightly from 2000, when women held 39% of management positions.

Meanwhile, the pay gap between male and female managers-–especially those who are parents–still remains strong. Among the managerial ranks, women full-time managers earned 81 cents for every dollar earned by male full-time managers in 2007. However, female managers fared worse if they were mothers; managers who were mothers earned 79 cents of every dollar paid to managers who were fathers, after adjusting for things like age and education. This gap has stayed the same since at least 2000, the Times reported.

Perhaps as a result of this “motherhood penalty,” female managers are less likely to have children—or even be married– than male managers. In 2007, 63% of female managers were childless, compared with just 57% of male managers. Of those managers who did have children, men on average had more children than their female counterparts.

And female managers were also less likely to be married than male managers, at rates of 59% vs. 74%, respectively.

“When working women have kids, they know it will change their lives, but they are stunned at how much it changes their paycheck,” said N.Y. Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, who requested the report, to the Times.

How do women fare in the managerial ranks at your employers? Are the female managers you know less likely to have children or be married than their male counterparts?

Because Ads in College Newspapers make college students drink more....

Advertisers: Allow Booze Ads in Campus Papers

Advertisers today called on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the state of Virginia's ban on most alcohol advertising in college newspapers, saying the law restricts free speech.

The court should "step in to stop the growing trend of government regulators to censor more and more speech directed to adults because those at the threshold of adulthood might see it," Dan Jaffe, exec VP for government relations for the Association of National Advertisers, said in a statement.

The association is joining the 4A's and American Advertising Federation in asking the court to overturn a recent appeals court ruling that upheld the long-standing regulation. The ad groups argue that the ruling runs counter to the Supreme Court's trend of "increasing protection for commercial speech," according to a brief filed with the Supreme Court, which also points out that many students are of legal drinking age.

Virginia prohibits student-run campus publications from running alcohol ads unless they are "in reference to a dining establishment." The exempted ads cannot refer to a particular brand or price and instead must use generic phrases such as "beer," "wine" or "cocktails."

The Cavalier Daily, at the University of Virginia, and the The Collegiate Times, at Virginia Tech, each blame the law for $30,000 in lost advertising revenue annually.

The newspapers say the regulation violates their First Amendment rights and they won an initial case before a district court. But the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond overturned the ruling, finding the government has a "substantial interest" in keeping the ban in place.

The appeals court sided with the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, which asserts that "history, consensus and common sense support the link between advertising bans in college newspapers and a decrease in demand for alcohol among college students," according to court filings.

The college newspapers countered that the ban on alcohol advertising is ineffective because students will still see ads for alcohol in other non-student-run publications.

Branding Grows as Online Ad Objective

While online advertising has been primarily a direct-response-focused space, brand-focused spending is growing, according to a new report by eMarketer.

"Many of the largest advertisers have shown little interest in the internet ads often most suited to branding," said David Hallerman, eMarketer senior analyst. "But that trend is changing -- and with it the spending focus of many brand marketers."

By 2014 nearly 42 percent of online ad dollars in the U.S. will be spent on branding, compared to just 35.7 percent today, the firm reported.

"Some of today's greatest success stories in online branding blend ingredients from three kinds of marketing media: paid, owned and earned," Hallerman said. However, "marketers must learn to construct campaigns that rely on all three types of media to engage with consumers and amplify brand messages. Paid, owned and earned media all contribute to the whole and to one another."

Overvaluing vs. Undervaluing Online Media

Digital media measurement is a mess, and we're all responsible for it. There are multiple vendors producing ever-growing quantities of data that often do not agree with each other, even directionally. There is no "currency" that governs the planning, buying and delivery of guaranteed audiences for advertising flights. What's more, as an industry we have contributed and created the faulty perception that online advertising is not brand hospitable because of the way we have allowed online advertising to be evaluated and bought on direct response metrics like clicks and actions.

For too long, we as an industry have fueled the problem and done little to suggest solutions. As a result, it has created a complex and costly supply chain and compromised the ability of marketers, ad agencies and publishers to be accountable for advertising expenditures.

A solution is possible
The IAB, the ANA and the 4As have joined forces in an effort to solve the measurement mess and live up to the promise of being the most accountable medium.

We need you -- the industry's best and brightest. For the good of the industry, we need to put aside competitive differences in order to find a radical rethink for digital and cross-platform measurement. We are forming a cross-industry coalition of experts drawn from consumer marketing companies, advertising agencies and media companies that will identify and create consensus around the metrics and systems that are needed to run our businesses. The coalition will identify a solution that embraces the needs of all digital media in a platform agnostic fashion.

In addition to creating the solution, we need a pervasive and ongoing system of accountability. We must create a governing body -- an industry-wide body that sets standards and ensures that measurement will consistently address the evolving needs of the industry. For example, the Media Rating Council (MRC) could play the role of the governing body, but it would need to be empowered to do so across media, which would take broader support from marketers, agencies and media organizations.

Time to stop scapegoating
Measurement must be approached as a business process that incorporates research science rather than as a research process that seeks support from the businesses. And that business process must be one that incorporates a vision and a structure for change management, innovation and quality assurance. Discrete research RFP's alone cannot fix the problem.

It is mission critical that measurement and metrics stop being the favorite scapegoat of the media business. Media, both traditional and digital, have long blamed measurement for multiple revenue maladies. As an ecosystem, we must stop talking the talk and begin walking the walk.

The structure, process and objectives of the proposed solution are a distillation of many voices of many thinkers throughout the ecosystem and inspired by the findings of a report ("Digital Marketing Metrics: How Can Innovation Unlock More Dollars?") done for the IAB and the 4A's by McKinsey & Co.

And for industry to take control
It is time for the entire ecosystem to take control of measurement. That includes defining and using metrics that matter -- metrics that take us from counting exposures to valuing exposures to contributing to brand health to putting paid and earned media together in creative cross platform campaigns -- and providing easy to use post-buy analyses. Yes, you just read that long bombastic sentence. And you will read it again because it captures the dire needs we have today. They will be exacerbated if we do not solve them now.

The ANA, the 4As and the IAB together with any sensible businessperson who wants to follow consumers in a digitally transformed world are waiting for you.

I can't wait to hear from you.

How to effectively mix email marketing & social media...

In a challenging economy, the instinct to reach for the marketing option with the lowest impact on your budget can be strong, especially for small businesses. And with the range of online services and social media sites growing larger by the day, it's tempting to want to choose between powerful options like email marketing and social media marketing. But it should not be a choice of one over the other. In fact, it's the two working together that will result in the strongest and most productive connections with your most passionate customers.

Complement and contrast
It might sound funny to say, but email marketing and social media complement each other well. For example, the primary strength of email campaigns is that they allow businesses to build deep, trusting relationships with customers through regular, direct contact. Social media, on the other hand, empowers users to interact with businesses at their leisure and in their own style, and leverages the power of the trusting relationship to attract even more fans.

Your most passionate customers -- who are often your most valuable customers -- are the ones who are reading the email you send, connecting with you via social media sites, and telling their friends about you. They are the ones you need to focus on to build a vibrant community because they will pave the way for you to make brand-new connections with the people in their networks.

Completing the virtuous circle
The New England regional burrito chain Boloco is a great example of how this plays out. It all begins with a positive interaction, whether it's a customer enjoying a great burrito, a Boloco email newsletter landing in the customer's inbox, or a someone posting on a social network about the restaurant's great service. These interactions cause a ripple through the customer's social media networks -- when people see their friend saying good things about Boloco on Yelp, Foursquare, or Twitter, the compliments can easily be passed across other social networks and connections to spread the good word from passionate customers (and trusted friends) to potential new customers.

In turn, when these new customers experience their own positive interactions with Boloco, they sign up for the business's email newsletter, post their own praise on social media sites, and spread the word even further. More friends then visit the store, have a good experience, and decide to sign up for newsletters, thus completing a virtuous circle of customer engagement.

Extend the spend
Linking between email newsletters and social media goes beyond the circle, though. It's not only synergistic, it also extends the marketing spend across multiple channels, maximizing its value. For example, archiving email newsletters online and posting links to them on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn can extend the reach of that communication. On the other hand, including links from blog posts or YouTube videos in an email newsletter can encourage subscribers to explore social media efforts they might not have otherwise known about.

Find more followers
Another way to get email marketing and social media to work in sync is by using each channel to drive adoption for the other. For example, businesses that insert links to their various social presences in their email newsletter templates can easily make their presence known to loyal customers and subscribers. Likewise, there are easy ways to add email newsletter subscription links to social networking sites through blog badges, Facebook applications, or even HTML code.

Back to basics
To excel in social media marketing as a small business you need to go back to the same values that helped build your business: You need to provide a fantastic customer experience that builds up a group of dedicated and passionate customers, who you then need to keep in touch with so you can keep that passion alive.

Use social media marketing tools and email marketing to organically build your audience and perpetually maintain an effective marketing mix.

Mitchum goes Benjamin Button style....

How do you revitalize a 40-year-old brand with flat sales and diminished shelf space in some of the biggest retailers? If you're Revlon's Mitchum, you team up with not one but two Hollywood directors, host a contest and let consumers tell your brand's story for you.

For its first brand campaign in five years, the deodorant/antiperspirant brand teamed up with CAA Marketing as well as director Brett Ratner ("Rush Hour," "Red Dragon") for a branded-entertainment program that played up its heritage as one of the "hardest-working" brands in its category (some may recall its tagline from back in the day: "So effective you could skip a day.").

Filmmaker Albert Maysles' documentary profile on Chad Pregracke, winner of Mitchum's Hardest Working Person in America contest, will premiere on the Sundance Channel on Oct. 22.

Mr. Ratner liked the idea of finding a person whose own work ethic matched the deodorant's, and tapped his friend and mentor, Albert Maysles, the documentarian behind "Grey Gardens" and "Gimme Shelter," for a contest to find the "hardest-working person in America." The contest was promoted through TV spots, print and social-media ads, culminating in the marketer's biggest push in years (in 2009 Mitchum spent only $668,000 on measured media, according to Kantar Media).

"Our marketing had taken on more of a maintenance role for a couple years. This is a sign of strong equity for us," said Thomas Lauinger, Mitchum's VP-marketing. "Mitchum has a lot of heritage that still resonates today as a strong and efficacious brand. But we wanted to reinvent it as well."Entrants were encouraged to create short films nominating an individual for their hard work, which viewers could then vote for via YouTube. The winning nominee would earn a $100,000 cash prize and the chance to be the subject of a short-form documentary directed by Mr. Maysles, with an accompanying photo shoot from celebrity photographer Brigitte Lacombe.

The program gained enough traction to attract the interest of Mike Rowe, host of Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs," to nominate his own unsolicited candidate, Chad Pregracke from East Moline, Ill. Mr. Pregracke is the founder of Living Lands & Waters, a nonprofit organization dedicated to cleaning up and preserving the nation's rivers.

More than 150 submissions and 3 million views later, Mitchum has two winners -- Mr. Pregracke, who won with more than 50,000 votes, and the product itself. Since the program's May launch, Mitchum has seen the largest sales gains in over two years, and also earned some prime incremental shelf space in retailers such as Walmart and Target.

Mr. Ratner was lured by the challenge of creating a creative concept for a package-good brand, having previously worked with Activision's "Guitar Hero" and luxury marketers such as Paradise, Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas through his Brett Ratner brands division.

"I'm looking for things that are alternative ways to market a brand. I avoid coming up with the idea for commercials because that's something outside my expertise. What was exciting was creating a concept that is reachable in many formats," Mr. Ratner told Ad Age.

With the contest complete, Mitchum is gearing up for the Oct. 18 premiere of Mr. Maysles' documentary profile on Mr. Pregracke, airing on the Sundance Channel. Mr. Lauinger said the two months leading up to the film's premiere will be a key opportunity to keep the brand's newfound 25- to 40-year-old male fans engaged with the program through social-media dialogue on Twitter and Facebook as well as email blasts, couponing initiatives and in-store trials. After the Sundance special airs, the Mitchum team will evaluate the aggregate impact on the brand's awareness and product sales to determine the next phase of its first branding effort in half a decade.

"It feels like there's a lot of opportunity here," Mr. Lauinger said. "We're really off to a terrific start, and we've already put some renewed energy and focus behind the brand."

More Turnover at Chevy, GM?

General Motors Co. today named Chris Perry its new Chevrolet marketing boss, replacing Jim Campbell.

Chris Perry

Mr. Perry, 50, Hyundai Motor America's VP-marketing, will be the third Chevrolet marketing leader in 13 months and will be reunited with Joel Ewanick, GM's top U.S. marketing executive, who held the same post at Hyundai.

Mr. Campbell, 46, was named VP of GM's performance vehicles and motorsports unit.

In March, Mr. Perry was named Hyundai's top marketing executive when Mr. Ewanick joined Nissan North America. Weeks later, Mr. Ewanick moved to GM.

"Chris brings 25 years of marketing experience -- more than 20 years in the automotive industry -- to the Chevrolet marketing position," Mr. Ewanick said in a statement.

"I have worked with Chris in the past and know he will use his unique ability to integrate strategic and creative marketing activities across all communications disciplines to reconnect consumers to the Chevrolet brand," he added.

Chris Hosford, Hyundai's executive director of communications, confirmed that Mr. Perry had resigned from his marketing post at Hyundai, effective immediately.

Mr. Hosford declined to comment about a successor to Mr. Perry, or the timing in which his successor would be named, saying "it's too early to talk about a potential successor to Chris."

Meanwhile, the churn of executives continues at GM.

In the past year, at least 17 of the company's marketing leaders have changed jobs or left. Three of GM's four remaining U.S. brands underwent major ad campaign changes -- Buick more than once. Mr. Ewanick is GM's fourth U.S. marketing chief in the past year.

Mr. Perry has been with Hyundai since 2000. Before taking the interim job, he was director of marketing and advertising. He has been credited by Hyundai dealers with being a key player in developing the company's attention-getting marketing efforts -- including the Hyundai Assurance program, which guarantees customers that they can return their purchases if they lose their job. He will report to Mr. Ewanick.

GM said Mr. Campbell, in his new role, will integrate the engineering and marketing of performance versions of current GM models and will be responsible for all of GM's motorsports activities. He will report to Mark Reuss, president of GM North America, and to Tom Stephens, vice chairman of global product operations.