超级品牌速成秘诀

    说到营销领域的老大，还要数美国电话电报公司（AT&T）：据坎特传媒公司（Kantar Media ）披露，去年，AT&T投入了约20亿美元，用于单个品牌的打造，这样的大手笔堪称美国公司之最。【虽然宝洁公司（Procter & Gamble）的预算超过AT&T，但却被用于不同的品牌。】而负责AT&T品牌建设的正是公司全球营销官、55岁的凯西•库格林。最近，她接受了《财富》杂志（Fortune）杰夫•科尔文的专访，谈到了如何在24小时内创作网络电视商业广告，无手机恐惧症的兴起，以及未来的伞柄发光的奥妙所在等等话题。以下为访谈内容摘录：

    问：AT&T在奥运会上开展了大规模的营销活动。看起来，似乎是非常传统的营销方式。是这样的吗？

    答：完全不是。比方说，我们今年采取了一些与众不同的方式。我们充分利用公司赞助的运动员们夺取金牌时的表现，将其用于第二天的商业广告中。比如，丽贝卡•索尼赢得游泳比赛金牌之后，紧接着就有一则广告，广告中一位年轻的游泳选手正在智能手机上观看她的那场比赛。这真的是非常有趣。许多人给我们的反馈是“你们怎么做到的？”因为我们是一家“反思可能（Rethink possible）”的公司，我们希望通过市场营销实现这个理念。

    你们进行了大量消费者调查。通过这些调查，你们对消费者的生活方式有怎样的了解？目前又有哪些变化？

    我们发现，在人们的生活中，科技所扮演的角色处于不断的变化之中，人们对待科技的态度也在发生转变。三四年前，在推出“反思可能”之前，我们对一条新广告语进行了测试，广告语基本是围绕“做得更多”这个概念。而人们的反应是：“我可不想做得更多。离我远点。我感觉自己都成了计算机的奴隶了。它把我和我的家人隔绝开来。它正在蚕食我的生活。”

    去年，我们又进行了同类测试，结果却是截然相反。人们认为：“我的设备就是我的一部分。它让我的生活更加丰富。它帮我过上‘移动生活’，可以帮我照料和看护我的家人，让我一下子变成了英雄。”

    从市场营销的角度来看，人们在很短的时间内，就从害怕科技变成了害怕失去科技。我昨天刚读到一种关于害怕没带手机的新术语——无手机恐惧症（nomophobia，源自no-mobile-phone phobia）。

    你们有超过一亿消费者，而且依照AT&T的公司性质，你们可以掌握消费者的大量信息。你们如何利用这一点来进一步加深对消费者的了解，并用来指导公司的营销活动？

    现在有一些有趣的新趋势不断出现。几年前，我们可能会在上班之前以及上下班的路上使用智能手机。而现在，我们每天都在用它。虽然办公桌上明明有电话，却没有人用。我们每天都在使用移动技术。所以，我们投入数百万美元，利用新天线技术，增强楼宇内的服务，尤其是纽约、芝加哥、旧金山等高楼林立的城市。这对市场营销具有非常重要的意义。就拿首席信息官的工作来说吧，他们再也不必对员工应该使用什么设备指手画脚。人们并不喜欢配备多台设备。所以，从营销角度，我们会发现一个非常有趣的转变，即对于公司使用的技术，公司员工拥有越来越多的发言权。

    人们消费媒体的方式也在快速变化。这对你们的营销有什么影响？

    科技已经从人们恐惧的对象变成了时刻都离不开的必备品，因此，我们的营销就是展示日常生活中对科技的应用。我们不仅会采取传统商业广告的方式，还会借助网络和YouTube等平台。我们与《英雄》（Hero，NBC电视台在2006年至2010年期间推出的电视剧）和《触摸未来》【Touch，福克斯公司（Fox）今年推出的电视剧】的编剧蒂姆•科林，以及我们的广告代理商BBDO，合作制作了一部非常优秀的五集网络短剧《破晓》（Daybreak）。我们没有采取传统的娱乐营销方式，把产品放在道具桌子上，然后为植入式广告付钱，相反，我们把科技融入到整个故事情节。故事主人公“本”在与邪恶势力作斗争，他利用我们的技术与恶势力进行周旋。

    Bigtime marketing doesn't get much bigger than this: AT&T (T) spends more money -- some $2 billion last year, says Kantar Media -- building a single brand than any other company in America. (Procter & Gamble (PG) wields a larger ad budget but divides it among scores of brands.) Commanding the branding is Cathy Coughlin, 55, AT&T's global marketing officer. She spoke recently with Fortune's Geoff Colvin about creating network TV commercials for the Olympics in 24 hours, the rise of nomophobia (fear of not having your cellphone), why your umbrella's handle may one day glow, and much else. Edited excerpts:

    Q: AT&T had a large marketing presence in the Olympics. That may seem a very traditional kind of marketing. Was it?

    A: Not at all. For example, this year we did something different. We used gold-medal-winning performances by some of our sponsored athletes in the commercials the day after the winning performance. In the case of Rebecca Soni, her gold-medal swimming performance was followed by a commercial with a young swimmer watching that performance on her smartphone. It's been really fun. We've gotten a lot of "How did they do that?" reaction. We're a "Rethink possible" company, and we want that to come to life in our marketing.

    You do a lot of consumer research. What have you learned about how your customers live and how that's changing?

    We've seen an amazing shift in the role that technology plays in people's lives and how they view technology. Three or four years ago we were testing a new advertising line prior to "Rethink possible," and it was around this notion of doing more. People's reaction was, "I don't want to do more. Get away from me. I feel like I'm a slave to my computer. I feel like it's separating me from my family. It's taking away from my life."

    We did that same sort of research last year and saw it completely flip-flop. People tell us, "My device is part of who I am. It enriches my life. It helps me live on the go. It helps me take care of my family, watch over them, be the hero in the moment."

    From a marketing perspective, we've gone in a very short time from people being fearful of technology to being fearful of being without it. I just read yesterday that there's a new term for the fear of not being with your phone -- nomophobia. It's derived from no-mobile-phone phobia.

    You have over 100 million customers, and by the nature of the business, you can know a great deal about them. How has that enabled you to know them better and inform your marketing?

    Some interesting trends are emerging. Just a few years ago you and I would use our smartphones before work, on the way to work, and on the way home. Now we're using them all day. Even though in your office you have a phone on the desk, you don't use it. You're using your mobile technology all day. So we're spending millions of dollars enhancing the service inside the building with new antenna technology, especially in places like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, where there are so many high-rise buildings. This has lots of implications from a marketing perspective. An example is working with CIOs, because they no longer dictate the device you're going to use. People don't want multiple devices. So you see an interesting shift from a marketing perspective, where the employee has a bigger voice in the technology that's being used in companies.

    The way people consume media is also changing fast. How has what you learned affected your marketing?

    Because technology has gone from something you fear to something you fear being without, our marketing is showing the use of technology in everyday life. That's showing up in places on the web and on YouTube in addition to traditional commercials. We partnered with Tim Kring, the creator of Heroes [a series on NBC from 2006 to 2010] and of Touch [a series launched this year on Fox], and with our advertising agency, BBDO, to create a really great five webisodes called Daybreak. Instead of the traditional entertainment marketing approach, where I put my product on the table and pay for that placement, the technology is integrated into the story line. Ben, the hero in our story, is fighting the forces of evil, and he is using our technology to get around the bad guys.