Episode 163 - Mish Fletcher on Social Marketing for Agencies

Transcript

Susan Bratton: Welcome to DishyMix. I’m your host, Susan Bratton, and you are listening to a part of the Muckity Muck Insights at AdTech San Francisco. You know, I’ve gathered up some of the people that I find the most fascinating who come to the show. Often they’re the speakers or members of our advisory board and people that I think bring a really unique position to the industry – good insights, great experience, and they’re lovely and delightful, and you are going to find this guest absolutely lovely and delightful. You’re going to get to meet Mish Fletcher. She’s the senior partner and worldwide marketing director for one of the biggest agencies in the world, OgilvyOne Worldwide. Mish is also a friend of mine and a woman after my own heart in that she programs the digital summits, which are an event that’s produced over at Ogilvy with some of their partners and some of the leading suppliers if you will in the digital media industry. So she’s beautifully connected and has a really good global perspective on what’s happening around the world with digital media. So lets get her on the show. Welcome Mish.

Mish Fletcher: Hey Susan, thank you so much for having me.

Susan Bratton: It’s my pleasure. Really nice to have you on the show. I’m surprised that I haven’t thought to do this sooner.

Mish Fletcher: Well I’m very honored.

Susan Bratton: It’s nice to do it in person here at AdTech San Francisco.

Mish Fletcher: Definitely.

Susan Bratton: Perfect. So what is the most interesting initiative you’re working on right now?

Mish Fletcher: Susan we’ve just launched the search for the World’s Greatest Salesperson. And this is a contest that we’re running on YouTube, and it’s running…

Susan Bratton: Oh I saw that.

Mish Fletcher: Oh you saw it? Fantastic.

Susan Bratton: Yes.

Mish Fletcher: It’s happening in 14 countries around the world, and yeah, so it started on March 30th and it’s going to run until May 16th. And we’re asking contestants to submit two minute videos of them pitching a product, and then what we’re going to do is select three finalists and we’re going to take them to Canne for the Canne Lion International Advertising Festival in June and ask them to pitch live on stage for the title of World’s Greatest Salesperson.

Susan Bratton: And when you do this is it a recruiting kind of a thing where you’re going to hire these people to…

Mish Fletcher: It is partially, yeah.

Susan Bratton: to do that at your company or…?

Mish Fletcher: Absolutely. It is partially recruitment tool in that the winner is going to receive a three month fellowship at OgilvyOne…

Susan Bratton: Okay great.

Mish Fletcher: And we really want that person to work with us to craft the sales guide for the 21st century. I mean really this all came about because, you know, David Ogilvy, our founder was a firm believer in selling and sales, and in fact his mantra “We sell or else” is something that we hold very close to our hearts at Ogilvy. So, you know, we were really sort of considering thought how has selling changed, and now in the digital age what new techniques, what platforms can we use in order to be more effective sales people? And so really the World’s Greatest Salesperson contest is a way for us to find out from people who are at the (unintelligible) of selling as to what tools and techniques they’re using that we can leverage ourselves.

Susan Bratton: Fun. I love that initiative, and I’ve seen it in more places. I think you also maybe have it on Twitter handle or something like that too…

Mish Fletcher: We’re on Twitter, we’re on Facebook, and LinkedIn. In fact there’s quite a serious discussion that’s actually going on there with a lot of sales professionals. And we’re finding it really, really interesting the engagement that we’re getting from the communities.

Susan Bratton: And I will make sure that I’ve put all of these links to all of Mish’s work on her bio page so that when you go to Personallifemedia.com and you go to the DishyMix page and you see Mish’s episode you’ll be able to find clicks to all of these things.

Mish Fletcher: That would be fantastic, and if everybody could please enter the contest we’d love that as well.

Susan Bratton: Yes, calling all sales people, all 21st century sales people. That sounds good. So I asked you in preparation for this interview a couple of questions, and one of the ones that you had an opinion on was, my question was what do you think is the dirty little secret of social media, and you said “Oh, I have an answer for that.” Tell me.

Mish Fletcher: Well it’s really through this experience of working with the World’s Greatest Salesperson contest, what I’ve discovered is that if you really want to run an effective social media campaign it’s a lot of work. And I kind of wasn’t expecting it to be as much work as it was…

Susan Bratton: Oh, the dirty little secret is it takes a lot of energy, effort and focus.

Mish Fletcher: A lot of energy, a lot of focus…

Susan Bratton: And caretaking.

Mish Fletcher: And commitment. You know, we really wanted to ensure that we’re providing people with the answers that they want, whether it’s on Facebook or whether they’re asking us questions on LinkedIn, and we’ve pretty much got a full time chief listener whose job it is just to monitor the conversation, ensure that we’re responding, pick up on any issues that may arise, and of course do our best to turn any of those into an advantage. So really that’s the little thing that I didn’t, I wasn’t really anticipating. It was a lot more work.

Susan Bratton: I love it. I love the chief listener; that’s a new title isn’t it?

Mish Fletcher: She was kind of impressed when I officially gave her that title, yes.

Susan Bratton: I like it, it’s good. Well you’re a marketing gal, you’re good at naming things. So you’re here at AdTech; what are three outcomes that you have this week here at AdTech San Francisco?

Mish Fletcher: Well first and foremost I’d really like to get the word out about the World’s Greatest Salesperson.

Susan Bratton: Good, well you’re doing that right now.

Mish Fletcher: Yeah, exactly.

Susan Bratton: Awesome.

Mish Fletcher: Yeah, and encourage as many people as possible to enter. Obviously I mean the thing about AdTech for me is to really get the opportunity to experience firsthand like the cutting edge innovations that are taking place in our industry. And I saw that there was a new Innovation Alley…

Susan Bratton: Yes.

Mish Fletcher: at the exhibit hall, so I’m really interested in finding out about that…

Susan Bratton: Me too.

Mish Fletcher: are there any companies that we might potentially be able to partner with that we can learn from, that we can potentially bring into Ogilvy as well to work with our clients. And thirdly just to reconnect with all the fabulous people, like you.

Susan Bratton: Nice! Thank you for that. Well I want you to connect with our DishyMix listeners in this moment. If you could ask my listeners – who are some of the most influential people in the industry – for a favor, how could we help you?

Mish Fletcher: Well again – and I hate to keep going back to the contest – but I mean I would really…

Susan Bratton: That’s what you want.

Mish Fletcher: Yeah, I really would like people to come onto the YouTube page…

Susan Bratton: Yeah.

Mish Fletcher: youtube.com/ogilvy, and check out all of the videos. They’re very entertaining, really a lot of fun and just to participate because really what’s going to make the biggest difference is the number of submissions that we’re getting. We’ve already had some really, really quite fun submissions from as far field as Italy and France, but you know, we need more. We need more innovation, we need more creative thinking. And then I suppose the flipside to that, what could I do in return, well I could take you to Canne.

Susan Bratton: Ah ha, I like it.

Mish Fletcher: And be treated to some great hospitality, care of Ogilvy, and of course the winner of the World’s Greatest Salesperson will be treated like royalty…

Susan Bratton: Geez, I’m tempted, I’m tempted.

Mish Fletcher: You should.

Susan Bratton: I might have to do a video.

Mish Fletcher: We haven’t had very many women participate so far.

Susan Bratton: Really?

Mish Fletcher: No, it’s quite male dominated…

Susan Bratton: That’s disappointing. All right.

Mish Fletcher: But certainly we would do our very best to honor the winner and ensure that that person gets a really great welcome and congratulatory experience (unintelligible).

Susan Bratton: So if you know a sales person that you think has a great personality for video that would love to go to Canne with Ogilvy, that would like to be honored as a 21st century sales person, it sounds like this is a really good opportunity for them to have – especially if it’s a woman – a good possibility of being selected the winner, and we need to get some of our girls doing that too.

Mish Fletcher: And as you’ve already pointed out, we’ve had a lot of exposure, a lot of publicity around the initiative, so I think it would be a great career builder for anybody.

Susan Bratton: Absolutely, so get out there and promote it to all your sales friends.

Mish Fletcher: Yes please.

Susan Bratton: Perfect. So what’s going on with you Mish? Now one of the things that I want to understand is when you’re running marketing for one of the world’s leading advertising agencies, what is it that you are doing to market your agency’s capabilities? Obviously you’re doing it to get new clients and that’s what you would want; inbound leads from major multinational brands who want to work at the level of quality of an Ogilvy. That has to give you some unique marketing – I don’t know what I want to say – like channels or certain things that you would use that would be different ‘cause you’re not mass market, it’s not even just B2B, you know, you’re targeting a pretty unique group of potential customers and prospects. What do you do in marketing to do that?

Mish Fletcher: I think the biggest thing is to really try to stay on top of the trends in the industry and try to anticipate where things are hitting and try to ensure that we’re able to offer products and services that are catering to needs that may exist or might exist in 12 months time. So definitely… But I mean it is B2B marketing and it’s just about listening and being responsive.

Susan Bratton:  And so is most of what you do communicating the work that Ogilvy’s doing in these cutting edge categories with the sales, you know, the focus on driving revenue through advertising and marketing, are you using a lot of PR, is it blogging? What are the things that you do to cast the net out there for your prospects?

Mish Fletcher: Definitely PR. Definitely client outreach. We produce a lot of thought leadership pieces. E-communications is a very important channel for us both in terms of our website and also social media platforms. We find that they’re becoming increasingly important as well.

Susan Bratton: When you say you do thought leader pieces, what are those and how could someone get connected into the content that you’re producing, this thought leader content?

Mish Fletcher: Well for example, you know, we talked about crafting the 21st century guide to selling and that would be something that we’d ask the World’s Greatest Salesperson to work on collaboratively with an OgilvyOne team. We anticipate that that’s going to be an incredibly piece of thought leadership, whether it’s ten clear things that one must do or understand in order to effectively out market. Yeah, so well that’s just one example. I mean we’re, we do a lot of speaking engagements and really just produce white papers or, you know, think pieces around particular areas, particular trends. So for example mobile is an area that we’re looking at very extensively at the moment, digital influences in area, and we have a regular publishing schedule of – as I mentioned – white papers that we would put out on a regular basis.

Susan Bratton: Do I get those at your website?

Mish Fletcher: Yes, absolutely.

Susan Bratton: Okay, so I can go there and get everything?

Mish Fletcher: Yup.

Susan Bratton: Awesome.

Mish Fletcher: Have you been to ogilvy.com? We relaunched it recently and it’s really different, so you should absolutely check it out.

Susan Bratton: I have to admit, I have not been there recently and I’d love to go because the work that you do is extraordinary and I’m interested in every single thing that you produce. And I have a little confession to make, and that is that I track the work that RazorFish does in this way. They do their influence reports and they have a lot of different reports, the State of the Industry report every year, and I love those. I’m always telling everyone about them and I need to tap into the same thing from your organization ‘cause I know it’s going to be extraordinary.

Mish Fletcher: Yeah, absolutely. Please do.

Susan Bratton: Done. Check. That’s going to happen. So I’d love to know more about what you’re doing in your world. You’re a marketing person, and most of the DishyMix listeners, at their core, are marketing people. They’re listening to the show because they love digital marketing, next generation marketing, everything that we talk about. What are you doing yourself at a professional level, or even at a personal level, as a marketing person to continue to improve yourself, either for your personal life or your career? What are you just doing as Mish?

Mish Fletcher: Well that’s interesting ‘cause I saw that question and I wanted to respond to that because actually I suppose what I’m doing that I’m finding very fulfilling and enriching in my life at the moment doesn’t really have all that much to do with work.

Susan Bratton: That’s okay.

Mish Fletcher: I’ve almost finished my Yoga teacher training, so I’m almost a certified Yoga teacher. And that’s been a really, really incredible journey. And I’ve learned a lot about myself throughout the process, and I actually think in many ways that I’ve been able to incorporate that into my working life. I certainly think I’m a lot more patient and understanding. I think they’re two virtues that we can’t really underestimate in today’s climate. Or in fact at any point.

Susan Bratton: Were you a big Yogini before you started taking classes to become a teacher or did you just one day say “You know, I’m going to do Yoga and I think I’ll just become a teacher”?

Mish Fletcher: I’ve always done Yoga, but to varying degrees of intensity throughout my life. And I just think that I’ve reached a point where I felt that I needed a little bit more balance in my life. I think it’s very easy, particularly when you’re in a job that you really, really love, you can become a little bit obsessed by it and just really live to work and that’s kind of not what it’s all about. So definitely this whole experience has given me a much, much more well rounded outlook and I think that that’s made me better at my job as well.

Susan Bratton: Nice! And how long, what kind of Yoga did you learn?

Mish Fletcher: It’s Anusara Yoga.

Susan Bratton: Anusara, what’s that?

Mish Fletcher: Anusara Yoga, it is a fairly recent form of Yoga. It was actually developed by an American, John Friend, in 1997.

Susan Bratton: Oh, it’s really new.

Mish Fletcher: Yeah, it is…

Susan Bratton: Okay.

Mish Fletcher: And it’s got an incredible following and it’s growing exponentially. In fact John just opened a center in Southern California. Yeah, so it’s, I always like to think of Anusara Yoga as sort of mixing the best of the West with the East in that it really demonstrates an understanding of the principles of alignment, of anatomy, of the way your body works but combines that with the wonderful heart opening qualities of the tantric philosophy, which is really the foundation for Anusara.

Susan Bratton: Beautiful. And how long did it take you to get your certification, accreditation, what would you call it?

Mish Fletcher: Well I’m not quite there yet, but it will be nearly two years.

Susan Bratton: Two years of work, every week going to training?

Mish Fletcher: Yes.

Susan Bratton: Uh huh, and you live in Manhattan, right?

Mish Fletcher: Yes.

Susan Bratton: Uh huh. So that must be so much fun. Are you feeling really accomplished?

Mish Fletcher: Certainly I’ve got a different relationship with my hamstrings.

Susan Bratton: Bet you do. Well you are such a beautiful woman and you always look so great in all your dresses and everything. Now I know what your secret is; it’s Anusara Yoga.

Mish Fletcher: Thank you, that’s very kind.

Susan Bratton: Plus already being born gorgeous, you know. There’s that. You got a good head start.

Mish Fletcher: I’m glad I’m on the radio.

Susan Bratton: Well you have a face for video girl. I love it. Well it’s been really fun to talk to you. Is there anything that you want to talk to our DishyMix listeners about that I haven’t covered?

Mish Fletcher: No, just to say thank you so very much for this opportunity. I’ve really enjoyed myself.

Susan Bratton: It’s been really fun to get to know you more Mish and I can’t wait to read some of the thought leader pieces that I’ve been missing. I’m going to have some catch up work to do. I’ll make sure I post a link to that on your page as well.

Mish Fletcher: That would be fantastic.

Susan Bratton: And congratulations on your upcoming accreditation for your being a Yoga instructor. I love it. It’s a beautiful combination, I agree with you.

Mish Fletcher: Thanks Susan.

Susan Bratton: Thank you. All right, you got to meet Mish Fletcher. She’s a senior partner and the worldwide marketing director at OgilvyOne Worldwide. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. And I hope you have a great day and you’ll tune in again for another series from AdTech San Francisco. I’m your host, Susan Bratton. Have a great day.