There may be no bigger supporter of digital marketing than I. However, I have learned to be skeptical about most things (I guess it’s my journalistic upbringing). Along that line, you all know the nursery rhyme, Humpty Dumpty:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall;
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King’s horses and all the King’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.[1}

The common belief is that Humpty Dumpty is an egg. However, there’s another version of its origin.

In 1648, during the siege of Colchester in western England, a huge cannon, colloquially called Humpty Dumpty, was strategically placed on the town’s wall for defense. A shot from one of the Parliamentary cannons damaged the wall and Humpty Dumpty came tumbling to the ground.

The Royalists (all the King’s men) attempted to raise Humpty Dumpty on to another part of the wall, but because the cannon was so heavy, ‘All the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.’

For awhile now, I’ve been thinking of applying that contrarian thinking — like the origin of Humpty Dumpty — to the value proposition of digital marketing.

We are asked all the time what kind of results we will get from our digital efforts. We mention awareness; impressions; click-throughs; sales leads; and, ultimately (hopefully) sales.

For the longest, I’ve kept articles on the changes in digital marketing, especially the rise of social media — Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, tracking, etc. In preparing this article, I basically threw out any article more than a year old. The uses and technology are changing so fast.

In fact, Facebook just this month filed an initial public offering which could value the social network between $75 billion and $100 billion and put the company on track for one of the biggest U.S. stock-market debuts of all time. The rise of Facebook is the subject of the movie Social Network, an interesting view.

First, let’s look at digital advertising from a contrarian view and then move to the social contrarian view.

Contrarian Idea 1: A third of ad
impressions are never seen.

In a recent article on www.paidcontent.org, author Danny Frankel mentioned that, “There is a growing consensus that digital advertising, whose targeting abilities were supposed to eliminate waste in marketing campaigns, is still very much a work in progress. Barely a week goes by without another person bemoaning the lack of reliable measure of ad effectiveness.”

ComScore, a global leader in measuring the digital world and a source of digital business analytics, recently produced a study titled “U.S. Digital Future in Focus 2012.” It can be downloaded by registering at comScore. Some key findings:

• Across all measured campaigns, 69 percent of ad impressions were classified as being “in view”. The remaining 31 percent, the study says, were delivered but never seen by a consumer for various reasons.
• An average of 4 percent of ad impressions were delivered outside of their targeted geographical region.
• 72 percent of campaigns had at least some of their ads running next to content deemed “not brand safe” by their respective advertisers.

Contrarian Idea 2: You can’t break up conversation with ads.

Even before the Facebook IPO, Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of the world’s biggest advertising group WPP, cast doubts on whether advertising will ever work on Facebook.

Sorrell said the social networks were “not the right context” for commercial advertising because they would interrupt something that was fluid and informal.

“Facebook, Google+, Twitter are advanced forms of social interaction,” he said. “We used to write letters to each other and now we correspond through Facebook and Twitter. If you interrupt that with a message you may run into trouble.”

Makes sense to me. And, Sorrell went on to further diminish the Facebook play by saying that Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, had been forced to withdraw two “failed experiments” at commercial activity after they sparked a “revolution” by users.

Contrarian Idea 3: There is no revenue model

David Baker, another contrarian and a management consultant for marketing services firms, says that “the purveyors of social media are losing money at astounding rates (except when they sell the platform to someone else who can afford to lose even more money) and “everyone wants to be on the bus, but they really don’t know where it’s going.” To bear that out, in its IPO filing, Facebook showed revenues of $3.7 billion, $400 million under projections.

And, it’s interesting to read the comments on the Wall Street Journal on the Facebook filing. Among the more than 200 include:

• “85% from ad revenue with virtually zero verifiable ROI. Fun times.”
• “This IPO is ridiculous. Anyone who bought into this dot.com bubble 2.0 needs to have their head examined. Way over valued. There’s already starting to be a social media backlash due to privacy concerns (especially Facebook’s ever-changing policies) and new platforms every day that are going to compete with it.”

Finally, then, what’s there to love?

Lots. Digital is here to stay and growing. We are right in the middle of a major shift of marketing dollars for our clients from traditional to digital media and it looks to increase. In the same comScore study, the following points were made:

• Social networking continues to amass online users. Social networking accounted for 16.6 percent of all online minutes at the end of 2011.
• Bing closed out the year surpassing Yahoo! for the No. 2 position among search engines. Google is No. 1.
• More than 100 million Americans watched online video content on an average day to close out 2011, a 43 percent increase from 2010.
• 4.8 trillion display ad impressions were delivered across the U.S. web in 2011 magnifying the need for greater transparency and accountability in ad delivery.
• At the end of 2011, more than 8 percent of all digital traffic was consumed on devices such as smartphones and tablets.
• Total U.S. retail and travel-related e-commerce reached $256 billion in 2011, up 12 percent from 2010.

Thus, it’s a wild, wild wacky worldwide web ride. You need a firm that can make sense out of it. That’s Foster Marketing.

Let Foster Marketing help manage your online presence.

Last Sunday at a Christmas morning service the pastor related a story that immediately captured my attention. It was about a business owner (first perk up) … his name was George (second perk up) … and he was the last to leave the office (was he talking about me?).

He then related an inspirational story that had meaning not only for Christmas but also as we sweep out 2011 and welcome 2012.

It was Christmas Eve, and, as usual, George Mason was the last to leave the office. He walked over to a massive safe, spun the dials and swung the heavy door open. Making sure the door would not close behind him, he stepped inside. A square of white cardboard was taped just above the top most row of strong boxes. On the card a few words were written. George Mason stared at those words, remembering …

Exactly one year ago he had entered this self-same vault. And then, behind his back, slowly, noiselessly the ponderous door swung shut. He was trapped — entombed in the sudden and terrifying dark. He hurled himself at the unyielding door, his hoarse cry sounding like an explosion.

Through his mind flashed all the stories he had heard of men found suffocated in time-vaults. No time clock controlled this mechanism; the safe would remain locked until it was opened from the outside. He would have to wait until tomorrow morning. Then the realization hit him. No one would come tomorrow — tomorrow was Christmas.

Once more he flung himself at the door, shouting wildly, until he sank on his knees exhausted. Silence came, high-pitched, singing silence that seemed deafening. More than 36 hours would pass before anyone came, 36 hours in a steel box three feet wide, eight feet long and seven feet high. Would the oxygen last? Perspiring and breathing heavily, he felt his way around the floor.

Then, in the far right-hand corner, just above the floor, he found a small, circular opening. Quickly he thrust his finger into it and felt a faint, but unmistakably, cool current of air. The tension release was so sudden that he burst into tears. But at last he sat up. Surely he would not have to stay trapped for the full 36 hours. Somebody would miss him. But whom?

George was unmarried and lived alone. The maid who cleaned his apartment was just a servant; he had always treated her as such. He had been invited to spend Christmas Eve with his brother’s family, but children got on his nerves, and expected presents. A friend had asked him to go to a home for elderly people on Christmas Day and play the piano since George was a good musician.

But he had made some excuse or other; he had intended to sit at home with a good cigar, listening to some new recordings he was giving himself. George dug his nails into the palms of his hands until the pain balanced the misery in his mind. Nobody would come and let him out. Nobody, nobody.

Miserably the whole of Christmas Day went by, and the succeeding night. On the morning after Christmas the head clerk came into the office at the usual time, opened the safe and then went on into his private office. No one saw George Mason stagger out into the corridor, run to the water cooler and drink great gulps of water. No one paid any attention to him as he left and took a taxi home. There he shaved, changed his wrinkled clothes, ate breakfast and returned to his office, where his employees greeted him casually.

That day he met several acquaintances and talked to his own brother. Grimly, inexorably the truth closed in on George Mason. He had vanished from human society during the great festival of Christian fellowship; no one had missed him at all.

Reluctantly, George began to think about the true meaning of Christmas. Was it possible that he had been blind all these years with selfishness, indifference, pride? Wasn’t giving, after all, the essence of Christmas because it marked to the time God gave His own Son to the world?

All through the year that followed, with little hesitant deeds of kindness, with small, unnoticed acts of unselfishness, George Mason tried to prepare himself. Then, once more, it was Christmas Eve. Slowly he backed out of the safe and closed it. He touched its grim steel face lightly, almost affectionately and left the office.

There he went in his black overcoat and hat, the same George Mason as a year ago, or was he? He walked a few blocks, and then flagged a taxi, anxious not to be late. His nephews were expecting him to help them trim the tree. Afterward, he was taking his brother and his sister-in-law to a Christmas play. Why was he so happy? Why did this jostling against others, laden as he is with bundles, exhilarate and delight him?

Perhaps the card had something to do with it, the card he taped inside his office safe last New Year’s Day. On the card is written, in George Mason’s own hand: “To love people, to be indispensable somewhere, that is the purpose of life. That is the secret of happiness.”

There is a road for anyone who is feeling trapped or stuck. But, before that road can be traveled there must be destruction of the old. The old George Mason had to die before the new George Mason could travel that new road.

Our lives are like that. We want newness but are we willing to bury the old? George Mason was trapped until he rid himself of his indifference and selfishness. Unfortunately it took being locked up in a safe in order for him to see himself as he really was.

We don’t have to spend two days in a safe to travel a new road. There is a new highway for all of us when we are willing to allow our old ones to be destroyed. New relationships, new understandings, new opportunities can all be realized when we let go of the old ones which are keeping us from being fulfilled or experiencing the joy of life.

Happy New Year from Foster Marketing!

Human beings are hardwired to be social — both culturally and physiologically. We Tweet and text. We Like and link up. We blog and banter. Researchers have proven that craving attachment is written into our DNA. So, it is no wonder more people are reaching out to others online.

Just this week, SmartBrief on Social Media noted that Facebook now has 800 million members. Twitter boasts 1 billion Tweets per week. As of August, LinkedIn had more than 120 million registered users in more than 200 locales worldwide.

Of all these connections, not all of them are purely social. According to a study by BtoB Magazine, 93 percent of business-to-business marketers are engaged in social media marketing. (Most of us support “The Big 3″ strategy of targeting LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.)

Many companies are becoming more open to the idea of using social media at work, according to a study by PRNewswire. As social media invades the business world, the energy industry is rallying its troops.

Two recent events focusing on social media, a Business Marketing Association forum on social media and World Oil’s Marketing in the Oilfield Conference, offered a fleet of energy industry professionals to share their social marketing experiences. Many in attendance were on fact-finding missions on how to get started or build their networks.

However, there was another hot topic on the minds of many. Although social media bans in the workplace weren’t discussed center stage, it was definitely the buzz in the back of the room.

A recent Robert Half Technology survey found that 51 percent of companies surveyed said they permit employees to use social media for business purposes (up from 19 percent in 2009), more than 1-in-3 companies still prohibit social media at the office.

Put your manager’s hat on and consider the possible arguments for such bans:

• Safeguarding company computers and servers. Maybe.
• Social media decreases productivity. Maybe not.
• Fear of unprofessional online interactions and leaking company secrets. Admittedly, it has happened to a few.
• If we ignore it, this social media craze will just go away. Not a chance. Not even if you hold your breath until you turn Facebook blue. (But if you try this, I can almost guarantee someone will post a video or picture of you online before you regain consciousness).

Let’s look at the individual concerns:

Safeguarding Company Computers

Although there are many offenders out there looking to do damage wherever possible, email seems to be a more likely target for these attacks … and no one is banning that.

Productivity Will Drop

Sadly, there will always be employees who abuse such privileges at work, but these are likely the same people you are talking to about taking too many breaks, not showing up for work and spending all day on personal phone calls — so just add spending hours on YouTube to your list.

On the other hand, according to an AT&T study on social networking technologies, access to social networking sites at work actually increases productivity and efficiency. In the study, employees said access to the rich sources of information on social networks often provided them solutions to problems and inspired them creatively.

Other noteworthy benefits to allowing social media access include:

• Sharing knowledge and information between employees, suppliers and customers.
• Better team building and internal structure in the workplace.

Here’s another issue to consider: A Nielsen survey shows that some younger workers said they were willing to quit their jobs if they were not allowed to access Facebook at work. (Surprising for some of us, but if you are hoping to hire the hottest tech-savvy young graduates, this may be something you will eventually have to consider.)

Still another school of thought says employees allowed to occasionally relax a bit at work will be even more focused and refreshed when they do get back to the job at hand.

Fear of over sharing and inappropriate posting

Admittedly, trust is required when it comes to social media. You must trust your staff to act like adults and use social media at work for business purposes instead of just catching up with friends. You must also be sure employees understand what content is acceptable to be shared and appropriate for your company’s culture.

Having a social media policy — in writing — sets the standard for employees to follow and ensures management and employees are on the same page. A social media policy should include:

• The company’s policy on accessing social media — and other web surfing — at work. Is it only allowed for business use
• What’s the policy on using the company’s name and information in social posts?
• How often are employees expected to contribute to company social media networks?
• If a negative post does pop up, who will respond? Who will decide IF you respond at all?

Social Media Is Here To Stay

Here’s another crazy idea: One energy company presenting at the Marketing in the Oilfield Conference said they actually asked its customers how they should be using social media. Based on customer feedback, the company is planning to use Twitter to send updates when usual forms of communication are down. That’s a powerful social media impact.

The bottom line is that social media usage will continue to expand (you can even get a degree in social media now). And as social media marketing becomes a more vital way to reach customers and prospects, companies will need to consider if they can afford to ban social media in the workplace. At many companies, there are people ready to promote their products and services online, interact with customers, seek out public relations opportunities through industry media and be thought leaders in their fields … if only they had access.

It’s time to banish the bans, embrace social media and start managing it.

Foster Marketing can help you launch and create a plan to maintain your social media presence. We’ll help you determine what content is right for your organization and work with you to create social media policies for your organization.

By Leah Martinez, Public Relations Account Executive for Foster Marketing

In June, Foster Marketing employees participated in our 14th Annual Foster Fest summer retreat in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Through the years we’ve taken our staff and significant others to some pretty nice locales. From our first retreat at a plantation home in St. Francisville, La., we’ve now met in Niagara Falls, Chicago, Cozumel, New Orleans and taken numerous cruises out of New Orleans and Galveston.

As our team has grown it has become more expensive for this enterprise and a budget challenge for our President, Tiffany Harris, who plans these meetings. However, I wouldn’t trade these four-day events for anything.

We always talk about spending 50 weeks working in the business, i.e. working on helping our clients grow, but we only spend a couple of weeks working on the business, i.e. helping Foster Marketing get better. On a retreat, you actually work on your business.

Many firms take just their management-level staff on a retreat. I’m a strong believer in taking all the staff – it’s a team. Additionally, we ask every staff member to make a presentation on something of importance to the agency.

To Retreat or Not to Retreat

Melissa Laughon in a recent blog on www.catchyourlimit.com addressed this very topic To Retreat or Not to Retreat? That is the Question. She listed the top five reasons why firms are not retreating in 2011 and five on why they are. It’s a lengthy post. You can visit her lists, but here would be mine. First, some reasons not to have a retreat:

•We’re too busy.

•They’re too expensive.

•The follow-up is lacking after the retreat.

And then why retreats are essential:

•We need to pause and work on the business.

•It gets everyone involved in the success of the business.

•Great for team building.

•Great spouse/significant other interaction.

•Great recruiting/employee benefit tool.

Laughon says at a retreat the future is in your hands and quotes Peter Drucker, the famous management consultant: “The only way to predict the future is to create it.” My rationale for having a retreat also is based on a Drucker quote: “Adequacy is the enemy of excellence.”

Planning the Retreat

There are many things to think about when planning a retreat, but basically there are five key things to consider – know your purpose, pick a date, select an off-site location, develop an agenda and use what you learn.

At Foster Marketing, we have several goals for our retreats – basically those indicated above on why we have a retreat. To pick one goal in particular, I’d say getting everyone involved in presenting solutions is most important to me. Getting the Office Administrator to discuss HR or our Controller to discuss finances or our Trade Show Coordinator and Public Relations Account Executive to discuss their specialties is exciting.

In addition to our summer retreat, we have quarterly meetings at Foster Marketing, usually at our office in Lafayette and basically with the same goals. However, our summer meeting, or Foster Fest, has historically been off-site and we’ve been blessed to be able to afford taking our staff out of town. It is an expense, but Tiffany Harris does a great job of finding affordable deals whether by land, sea or air. We’ve done ‘em all. The ideal meeting spot should provide a comfortable and unique experience, the necessary working space and equipment, facilities and meal options.

For the agenda, we try to have every staff member (now numbering 13) take 30 minutes to present and discuss a pre-determined subject of interest. This is usually a PowerPoint presentation with lots of give and take (many times mine). Invariably, we come out with great ideas.

At Foster Fest in Playa del Carmen, we implemented a concept we had used successfully at a prior Foster Fest. We solicited topics/issues from employees to discuss using the Creative Whack Pack by Roger von Oech. The Creative Whack Pack consists of 64 cards, each featuring a different strategy. Some highlight places to find new information. Others provide techniques to generate new ideas. Some lend decision-making advice. And many give you the “kick” you need to get your ideas into action. We used the cards on each topic/issue. It was a great exercise and we came out with an exceptionally large number of ideas.

Now, the kicker: A retreat can only be effective if you apply what you’ve learned. Our list from our last Foster Fest is long. The proof of the retreat’s success will be in the pudding of results.

Foster Marketing is ready to help energize your marketing programs. Email Jamie Efurd or call 281-448-3435 or 337-235-1848 to schedule a meeting with Foster Marketing to discuss how we can help integrate and enhance your marketing efforts.

Another one in the books! For me, wrapping up another successful Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) can be compared to that feeling of liberation in school just after completing your last exam of the semester. With this year’s OTC having the highest attendance and largest exhibition since 1982 — 78,150 attendees and 603,000 square feet of exhibit space, there is no doubt the hard work of many people paid off. Yet there is little rest for the weary as the slew of international trade show events is on the horizon.

With 2011 full of large, international events — the aforementioned OTC, along with Offshore Europe, Brasil Offshore, OTC Brasil and Oil & Gas Asia…to name a few — the conscientious exhibitor is always seeking ways to ensure a successful event with measurable benefits. One group of attendees who can considerably boost a company’s ROI (but who are often overlooked) is … journalists.

Recently I stumbled across an article by Lena Valenty of EXHIBITOR Magazine in which she creatively compares exhibiting at a trade show to a blind date (stay with me here). She explains how an exhibitor has mere minutes to make a lasting first impression. An exhibitor has “carefully accessorized with graphics and key messages that accentuates its best features.” We want to appear interesting, but not overeager…confident, but not pompous, she says.

Our potential matches almost always are the most attractive customers and prospects, but Valenty encourages us not to overlook the person who may not appear to be your type on first glance…the journalist. Though perhaps not as glamorous, media representatives have the ability to spread your message in a big way. This group, tasked with delivering news and information on the industry, new products, trends and the key players, is always on the hunt for information to share with readers and viewers. Consider these steps as you aim for Press Success at your next show:

1. Find your audience: This legwork includes researching media representatives that will be attending the show, determining who the proper contacts are and if your products and services align properly.

2. Craft your message: How will you entice the journalists…and concisely? Your message should have clear positioning, product differentiation and provide compelling interest.

3. Book interviews: Be proactive and start booking media appointments several weeks in advance of a show…and ensure the proper executive is available to be interviewed.

4. Assemble your kit: Press kits are expected.

5. Get involved: Become involved outside of the exhibit hall. What conference components could you participate in, or what award programs could you enter? These are valuable, exhibit-marketing opportunities.

6. Train your staff: What role should your exhibit staff play when interacting with the media? Decide what actions they are to take, have a plan in place and share it. If they are to interact with media, there are media-training basics to follow.

7. Prepare your exhibit: Incorporate into your booth a quiet meeting space, if possible. Offsite meetings are often a welcomed alternative, and utilizing the press room may also be an option for conducting interviews.

8. Continue the conversation: Follow up with each journalist who visited your booth. Keep the conversation going and show that you are accessible. The long-term goal is to position yourself and your company as an industry expert who can serve as a source for information.

9. Measure the results: Hard metrics can be obtained through tracking media impressions and the number of original articles, as well as through web analytics. Also, include an overview of all media activity at the show. These reports will prove that your efforts were worth the investment.

Foster Marketing can help navigate the coordination side of your exhibit, and with our proprietary database of energy publications and established relationships, we can guide your quest for Press Success, too. Together, we can navigate through the blind dates to connect with those looking to woo us and share our company’s stories.

Let us help you improve your trade show ROI — whether you are exhibiting at a regional or international show. Email Jamie Efurd or call 281-448-3435 or 337-235-1848 to schedule a meeting with Foster Marketing to discuss how we can help integrate and enhance your marketing efforts.

By George Foster, CEO of Foster Marketing

The first week in May is always reserved for the Offshore Technology Conference or OTC, the biggest event in the oil and gas industry. Unlike last year when OTC followed the Macondo disaster, this year’s show was full of enthusiasm. Attendance reached a 29-year high with more than 78,000 and the exhibition space of 603,000 square feet was sold out.

And, with oil futures passing $110 per barrel and the government now issuing permits in the Gulf of Mexico, things look promising for the energy industry.

In its latest monthly oil market report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) revised downward its forecast for the 2011 global oil product demand growth as a result of persistent high prices and weaker projections for economic growth in the developed countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. And, global events shape the future of energy. In fact, oil futures dropped immediately following the death of Osama bin Laden.

So “What is the Energy Future?” Or, maybe more importantly, “Which Energy Future?” That was the title of a presentation given by Andy Hines, lecturer and executive-in-residence for the Graduate Program in Future Studies at the University of Houston, last November.

Andy (http://www.andyhinesight.com) was the featured speaker at a meeting I hosted in Lafayette last month on “Thinking [Better] About the Future: A Hands-on Approach to Applying Foresight” (see Part Two of the Future Series).

In his energy presentation, he laid out four energy scenario archetypes: Continuation, New Equilibrium, Transformation and Collapse. Here’s an overview of the first three; don’t want to imagine the latter.

Continuation: The system moves forward along its current trajectory. This is the “official future” and usually considered most likely. Hines forecasts this is less and less likely, and uses “The Long Boom” by Peter Schwartz (http://www.amazon.com/Long-Boom-Peter-Schwartz/dp/0738200743) as a go-by, suggesting that the recession is just a blip in the 25-year boom. Assumptions:

• Recession ends and things “go back to normal”

• Developing markets are more “markets” than competitors

• Global shipping costs manageable

• Resource costs manageable

• Technology continues to advance rapidly

• Mix of modern and post-modern values

New Equilibrium: The system reaches a balance among competing forces that is significantly different from the current balance. In the “double-dip” or “our-turn” scenario, emerging markets rewrite the rules. Assumptions:

• Emerging markets lead the way out of “double dip”

• Reverse “brain drain” helps build emerging market knowledge work force

• Relations with developed world “manageable” to avoid trade wars

• Required sources can be acquired cost-effectively

• Environmental issues “tabled” until later

• Spread of modern values

Transformation: The system is discarded in favor of a new one with a new set of rules, such as the soft energy path as described by Amory Lovins in his 1977 book “Soft Energy Paths: Toward a Durable Peace” (http://www.amazon.com/Soft-Energy-Paths-Towards-Colophon/dp/0060906537/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304354600&sr=8-1). The soft energy path describes an alternative future where energy efficiency and appropriate renewable energy sources steadily replace a centralized energy system based on fossil and nuclear fuels. Assumptions:

• Recession causes people to “re-think” their consumption

• Grassroots movements and social entrepreneurship flourish

• New measure of government success at all levels of government go beyond the “Triple Bottom Line” of becoming more sustainable

• Alternative energy investment grows and leads to significant breakthroughs

• Local products and services flourish

• Licenses to operate granted by some communities that require organizations to give back to the community

• Rise of post-modern and integral values

Implications of the Scenarios: What do these scenarios mean to those in the energy industry?

In conclusion, the Hines presentation provides thought-provoking situations and implications to help energy companies forecast the future. The heavy lifting comes inside the company to evaluate its own future prospects.

Let us help you plan for 2011 and beyond. Email Jamie Efurd or call 281-448-3435 or 337-235-1848 to schedule a meeting with Foster Marketing to discuss how we can help integrate and enhance your marketing efforts.

On my way to OTC from Lafayette, I passed a billboard on I-10 that proclaimed that the Day of Judgment is near. The billboard paraphrased Ezekiel 33:3: “Blow the trumpet…warn the people.”

Save the date: May 21, 2011. Save the time: 6 p.m.

If preacher Harold Camping, founder of Family Radio (www.familyradio.com), is right, that’s the exact date Jesus will return. Camping determined the exact day, May 21st, through a series of Biblical calculations. This isn’t the first time he’s predicted Jesus’ return. Originally, he proclaimed that the End Time would come on Sept. 4, 1994. When the Rapture failed to occur on the appointed day, Camping said he had made a mathematical error.

Camping is not the first to proclaim the return and there have been more than two dozen predictions on the Second Coming (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Coming_of_Christ). However, no one knows the exact time of Christ’s return – not even Christ himself as proclaimed in Mark 13:32:

But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.

Our fixation with the future, whether it be religious, economic (the price of oil and gas and healthcare reform) or even our communities (“the future is where our children live” one person told me), consumes our thoughts.

Recently, Andy Hines, a lecturer and executive-in-residence at the University of Houston’s Graduate Program in Futures Studies, spoke to a group of advertising agency principals at a meeting I hosted in Lafayette.

Andy heads Hinesight (http://www.andyhinesight.com) and has written several books on the future – or maybe more accurately forecasting the future. He doesn’t try to predict the future but attempts, through a process, to help companies better forecast their futures.

His topic was “Thinking [Better] About the Future: A Hands-on Approach to Applying Foresight”. Download a PDF of the presentation.

Why foresight? Companies can apply foresight to:

• Uncover new opportunities

• Detect threats

• Craft strategy

• Guide policy

• Understand emerging customer needs

• Explore new offerings, markets, products or services

This is applied through a thought-provoking process that’s broken down into a framework — framing, scanning, forecasting, visioning, planning and acting.

Framing: As Yogi Berra said, “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” First, you need to know your audience, map the landscape and set a time horizon for completion. For example, the life cycle of a computer chip is 18 months; an offshore oil platform 30 years. Finally, determine your degree of stretch. In other words, a competitor introduces an innovative new product in your space. How do you respond?

Scanning: Collect information. Find opportunities before the competition does. Look for changes “outside,” talk to people, explore unfamiliar territory, capture insights and create a trend inventory.

Forecasting: What are the attractive spaces? Cluster potential trends into drivers; identify “insights” around which to build opportunity spaces; identify key uncertainties; challenge assumptions (a vital part of the process); look for potential discontinuities; create scenarios; and summarize the opportunity spaces.

Visioning, Planning & Acting: Develop a Futures Wheel, placing your “most interesting” assumption reversal in the middle. Visioning and planning make up 17 percent of the foresight planning process. Acting represents 23 percent and consists of catalyzing action and change; building alignment, commitment and confidence; and building a learning organization.

This is just part of the foresight process. I would encourage any company who wants to look into the future to consider working with Andy. It would be well worth the effort.

Now, if you believe Camping, that’s a moot point. The end is a short few days away and counting down on his website. To that I say, I don’t know what my future holds, but I know Who holds my future.

Let us help you plan for 2011 and beyond. Email Jamie Efurd or call 281-448-3435 or 337-235-1848 to schedule a meeting with Foster Marketing to discuss how we can help integrate and enhance your marketing efforts.

By George Foster, CEO of Foster Marketing

Since 1985, I’ve been a member of a small group of ad agency principals who meet twice a year to discuss their individual businesses. It’s called the Innisbrook Group, after Innisbrook, Fla., where the first meeting was held in 1982. We share financials (balance sheets and income statements), operational and personnel issues, creative and personal stuff and usually have several speakers.

I’m hosting this spring’s meeting in Lafayette and the theme of the April meeting is “Looking to the Future.” For this meeting we’ll have a CPA discussing financial planning; a senior intelligence analyst for Blue Cross discussing healthcare (our biggest business unknown); and Andy Hines, a Lecturer and Executive-in-Residence at the University of Houston’s Graduate Program in Futures Studies, and a Futurist.

He heads Hinesight (great name for a Futurist) and has written several books on the future. His website is www.andyhinesight.com (more about Andy and the April meeting in the March Fostering Ideas newsletter.

I’ve always looked to the future and never been one to dwell on the past. However, I have a healthy respect for history. As the Spanish American philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

My first awareness that there were people who would predict the future, or “Futurists”, was in the early ’90s when I discovered Faith Popcorn’s book, The Popcorn Report. First published in 1991, some of her predictions are rather remarkable now 20 years later.

Ms. Popcorn (www.faithpopcorn.com) very presciently describes email and e-commerce, calling them “screenmail” and “infobuying” though neither had yet been invented and it would be three years after her book was published before anyone was even talking about “The Information Super-Highway.”

Her predictions for 2011 are interesting as well as she predicts that we will enter an unprecedented period marked by the end of our traditional gender divide, or as she calls it EN-GEN.

Women are becoming more influential, powerful and in control of the culture. And, men are becoming more sensitive, collaborative and connected. As Mars becomes more Venus like — and Venus-versa — we’re far less combat ready.

Consider some of the numbers about women:

• Women hold 51% of managerial and professional jobs

• Four in 10 mothers are primary breadwinners; working wives are coming close to bringing in half of household income

• Single, childless women under 30 earn 8% more than their male peers

• The number of women earning six figure salaries has increased 14% in the last two years

This is certainly true in the marketing communication industry where women are growing in numbers and responsibility. Bright, talented and tenacious young women have been vital to Foster Marketing’s success.

And, how about these male patterns (in my case, not baldness):

• The emergence of the stay-at-home-dad, which according to the most recent U.S. Census (2008), had increased by 62% from 2003

• 40% increase in male time devoted to household chores

• A three-fold increase in average male time devoted to cooking

I can relate to all of the above. Although the sad state of male employment is well-known, what haven’t been analyzed are the gender impacts of this “forced feminization.” Economic pressures are acting as an accelerator to the En-Gendering of America.

There’s a lot more. For the whole picture, go to Ms. Popcorn’s website for not only this year’s predictions but also previous efforts (www.faithpopcorn.com/ContentFiles/PDF/FPBR_2011 Predictions.pdf). More next month.

Let us help you plan for 2011 and beyond. Email Jamie Efurd or call 281-448-3435 or 337-235-1848 to schedule a meeting with Foster Marketing to discuss how we can help integrate and enhance your marketing efforts.