I try to separate the brandcentric blog material from my job at DemandTec, but given the subject matter the lines often blur. AMR Research recently recognized DemandTec’s market leadership position in account planning and collaborative deal management for CPG manufacturers. This report (note: AMR client access only) was published earlier this month by Lora Cecere and Steve Steutermann at AMR — two industry analysts that have themselves held brand and sales management roles for some of the leading CPG companies.
This recognition was the result of three solid years of market momentum by DemandTec combined with two strategy sessions and countless briefing calls I held with Lora and Steve. Rewarding to know that a lot of hard work across the company has ultimately paid off.
As a related side note, it was recently announced that AMR Research has been acquired by Gartner. The transaction just closed today. I see this move as a net positive for the industry and look forward to working with the expanded Gartner / AMR team in the weeks and months ahead.
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Yesterday I appeared as a panelist in a “virtual brown bag forum” organized by Trade Promotion Management Associates (TPMA) and hosted on Second Life. The forum was structured like any real-life event would be with vendor exhibition booths, scheduled panel discussions, quality networking time…and, yes, even coffee was served. More than 160 CPG industry executives registered and the panel discussions were engaging and interactive. The forum went off without a hitch, and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun.
As I described to my colleagues after the event, virtual events combine the fluid interaction of a traditional conference call with the rich multimedia value of a Webex meeting. In fact, it felt about as close to a real-world event as you can get. While at first the idea seemed a little gimmicky, I think we all recognized the business value of this medium. Should virtual events replace real-life events? Definitely not. But they certainly have their role, especially in cash constrained times like now.
Congratulations to TPMA for trying something different and pulling off a great event!
On Feb 3, I will appear on a virtual panel hosted on Second Life titled “Positioning Your Trade Promotion Program for Economic Challenges” . The event and panel is organized by TPMA (Trade Promotion Management Associates) and will feature many of my industry peers from Oracle, SAP, Booz & Company, Information Resources and more.
This should be interesting and fun on many levels. TPMA is touting this as the first virtual event of its kind in the industry, so it’s a bit unclear right now how many folks will take the time to register and attend. But with corporate belt tightening and travel restrictions in full force, events like this make it easy for industry professionals to stay connected without ever leaving the office.
On a related note, Second Life and related virtual worlds have started to attract marketing investment from big brand advertisers including Coca Cola and Procter & Gamble. Use cases range from product concept testing, virtual focus groups and more. I’ll explore this marketing vehicle in a separate blog post as I learn more.
