Hi Mark! In a galaxy far far away we worked together when you were with Stein Rogan + Partners as EVP/ECD, and I was your Traffic/Production Supervisor. Though you and Tom Stein had the marketing foresight of the “Internet” long before most, I came aboard at the tail end of the dot com boom, about a year before it all went BOOM! I think it’s a great time to meet up again – at the beginning of the true integration between traditional Advertising and Social Media – and from following you on Twitter, as well as keeping up with your website, I think you can offer some great insight, maybe even a little foresight if I ask the right questions…
So with all that being said…
DC: WHO is Mark Rogan and what does he do?
MR: I’m a lion tamer. Actually I got that from MadMen (big fan). Let’s see…
I’m a 54 year old advertising veteran who started in this business shooting photostats for JWT in the Greybar building. So to say I came up through the ranks and know a lot about every aspect of this really nutty business, would be an understatement. Today I own and manage Honey Advertising. At Honey we’re focused on traditional brand building, but we’ve become experts in overlaying social media and some powerful technology, to take full advantage of what’s going on in marketing today. I’ve been married for 33 years have two great kids, a German Shepherd Dog, 3 cats and play guitar in a band called “My Fellow Prisoners”
DC: Is Print Dead?
MR: No. Not any time soon, either. Traditional publishers will need to evolve to digital, for sure,but beautiful magazines, books, brochures—the printed word— will be with us for a long, long time. Print is still such a powerful vehicle. And when advertisers add in things like QR Codes, it reallymakes print Step One in the value chain. No, if print were dead, I’d need someone to explain to me why my FedEx Office bills are so big and why print collateral is such a huge part of our business—and profitable to boot!
DC: I have recently read Honey’s Guide to Social Media – How to create Buzz for your Brand… to date this is the clearest explanation of the relevance of Social Media Marketing in the Advertising mix I have come across, and I loved the design as well. From your list – which is your favorite type of Social Media and why?
MR: First, thank you very much. If any members of your audience would like a copy, it’s a free download at www.honeyadvertising.com/getsocial
Right now, I’d have to say I’m torn between Twitter and Facebook. Now that Google has added these to their search algorithms being part of them and maintaining a consistent presence is a must for marketers. (I’m assuming your question is which is my favorite for marketers). That said, nothing can beat YouTube for going viral. It’s simply stunning when you look at some of the view tallies on some of the videos. Getting more views than the most-watched SuperBowl, the last episode of MASH (or Lost) or Obama’s Inauguration is commonplace on YouTube. It boggles the mind.
DC: Congrats on your beautiful 62 yr old baby girl – Marjorie! Can you tell us some more about her?
MR: I bought her on eBay from a guy in Tampa. First time I saw her “in the flesh” was when she rolled out of the transport trailer at the bottom of my driveway in the Berkshires. She’s a 1948 Ford F-1; the very first of the famous Ford F Series of pickups still being produced today. She has her original 239 c.i. engine that pumped out 85 horsepower back in 1948. We’ve done a lot of work over the past few years including putting in a 5 speed transmission and all sorts of work to the engine. Getting on the parkway and cruising at 65mph is effortless and the power steering we added helps when it comes time to park.
My son Zack and I did most of the work ourselves. Zack is an amazing mechanic. He went to school in Laramie, WY at WyoTech and was hired before graduation by Skip Barber Racing. Great kid.
DC: Social Media is to Advertising as…
MR: Steroids are to Major League Baseball!
It’s the only way marketers —especially B2B marketers— will hit a homerun nowadays.
DC: How are you using Social Media to promote Honey and your clients?
MR: We’re rabid Tweeters. We use ObjectiveMarketer to help automate the process. For clients we urge them to get started with social media in a structured, strategic and consistent way and then measure, track test and optimize efforts with Hubspot and a CRM solution l like salesforce.com. We can track a single sale or a qualified lead back to a specific Tweet with an end-to-end solution like that. That’s true closed-loop analysis and our clients love it!
DC: In 10 words or less, please tell all the prospective clients out there why Social Media should be part of their advertising strategy.
MR: Traditional “interruption-based marketing is dead. “Attraction-marketing” works miracles. (Hey, exactly 10 words!)
DC: Lastly, if you were to give the commencement speech at The School of Visual Arts, what would your message be to graduating Creatives regarding the future of advertising?
MR: I’m afraid I would have to tell them everything they just learned over the past 4 years is now obsolete. Unfortunately if they truly love advertising and marketing, their education will be just beginning and it will be ongoing for the rest of their careers . And they had better take me seriously.
If they’re lucky enough to get hired they need to keep this one job description in their head, tape it to their wall in their cubicle, tattoo it on their foreheads (in reverse so they can read it in the mirror): MAKE YOURSELF VALUABLE.
That’s it. I don’t care about the fluffy, job description in the ad they answered or what some pompous CD told them their job was… MAKE YOURSELF VALUABLE! It’s an ongoing process. It takes time and dedication, but if you don’t do so, they next guy or girl will and you’re gone. Read. Study. Take online IAB classes or get a subscription to www.lynda.com. Develop mad skills in anything to do with your job or your clients business. Be proactive and be fearless.
I recently wrote a blog entry that relates to this question (www.honeyadvertising.com/blog Talk About a Revolution)
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