BDS Marketing, Inc. (bds mktg) was awarded a Stevie for Best Marketing Team for their Sony “HD Test Drive Program” at The 2007 American Business Awards. We look at how this premiere retail marketing agency engaged both retailers and consumers with Sony’s HDTV products in stores around the United States.

How do you create sensational success with your High Definition TV products when competitors are undercutting prices by up to thirty percent? Sony's answer was to create a High Definition Consumer Education Program.

Sony research showed that the average consumer made seven store visits as well as investigating online before purchasing an HDTV. This consumer uncertainty was primarily attributed to the complexity of HD technologies and to inconsistent communication at the retail level.

In 2006, Sony developed the HD Test Drive program, encouraging consumers to learn more about HDTV products, better understand HDTV features, and make a more informed purchase. The HD Test Drive was a simple 4-step HD demonstration of "How & Why To Buy" comparisons with tips and point-of-sale tools to help consumers choose the best Sony HDTV. At the same time, Sony launched an online training and consumer website listing when and where to find the HD Test Drive events.

Exceeding their Goals
bds mktg was brought in to execute the HD Test Drive Program in the top 31 DMAs at national retailers such as Best Buy, Sears, and Circuit City, and key regional locations like ABC Warehouse, ABT, HH Gregg, PC Richards, and other specialty stores. The program was successful in educating over 25,000 sales associates from September through December 2006 and driving significant sales volume for Sony’s high-definition television line. bds was able to exceed each of the Sony predetermined ROI goals and objectives by as much as 96 percent.

As the Director of Client Services and Operations for bds mktg, Mac McWeeney was responsible for strategic development and tactical implementation for the bds Sony Team. “The key element of this program was about High Definition education and simplifying the technology message,” said McWeeney. “Our team was able to show customers and sales associates what to look for in HDTV picture and sound performance and then let them decide what technology worked for them. This program was about giving consumers the tools and information to buy, not about selling them.”

The Final Three Feet
What was the essential element of Sony's success? bds mktg was Sony's brand extension, communicating and implementing the HD Test Drive program and products at the final three feet of retail. bds shortened the customer’s purchase decision cycle through communication and demonstration of the key benefits of the Sony HDTV products.

“We believe education and interaction on the selling floor are critical components to the marketing mix,” said Aimee Mozingo, Vice President of Marketing for bds mktg. “It’s about maximizing and integrating efforts on the retail floor—from messaging to visual presentation to empowering sales associates to direct interaction with customers. By leveraging people as a powerful communication vehicle, we help transform a transaction into a lasting connection for both the brand and the retailer.”

bds used a blended tactical approach of sales associate training, merchandising, consumer intercepts for brand building, information gathering, events, and sales. The bds corporate account team was responsible for full program management, weekly communications with Sony, and scheduling of events with each of the Sony sales and marketing managers.

Eighteen full-time Market Development Managers (MDMs) were trained and certified on Sony's HDTV products, retailer standard operating procedures, HR hiring, training and development policies and procedures, and the Sony HD Test Drive program. The MDMs were responsible for recruiting, hiring, training, motivating, mentoring, and quality control of 200 Assisted Sales Reps (ASRs). The ASRs performed this program in their assigned area, as well as executing tactics at the retail level.

During events bds reps set up Sony point-of-sale banners, HD content generators, floor talkers, and a table with collateral material in-store. Reps guided consumers through the HD Test Drive process, educating both consumers and sales associates, securing sales on the retail floor, capturing mindshare at retail for the Sony brand, and increasing Sony's HDTV market share. In this way, bds was able to interact with consumers and ensure that product was stocked and prominent in the retail stores.

The Sony HD Test Drive program provides an excellent example of how bds mktg engages retailers and consumers with its clients' brands at retail. In essence, bds becomes the voice of the brand by building mindshare with sales representatives and delivering a relevant brand experience to the consumer.

About BDS Marketing, Inc.
BDS Marketing, Inc. is a retail marketing agency driven by the power of its people. From designing customer experiences to hands-on in-store execution, bds lives for brand dominance. The company activates national and private label brands, empowers sales associates, and optimizes retail sales floors. Their national network of high-performance teams provides expert in-market representation to generate sell-through for clients such as Puma North America, Carhartt, Kellwood Corp., New Balance, Canon, Sony, Samsung, and Sirius Satellite Radio. Services include training, street intelligence, market development, assisted selling, and merchandising. Founded in 1984, bds is based in Irvine, California. For more information, visit their website at www.bdsmktg.com or contact them at +1 949-472-6700 to obtain case studies.

The Talent Powered Organization: Strategies for Globalization, Talent Management and High Performance, released in the United States this month, is the latest book to tackle one of the most pressing and challenging issues on executives’ agendas:  winning the battle for talent.

The book is a comprehensive review of trends that are elevating talent management to the top of the corporate agenda.  Whether recruiting young technicians from the developing world, retaining valuable experience from an aging generation of employees, or integrating Generation Y into the workforce, executives today confront a maelstrom of management issues. Such problems bring to mind a remark by Harold Macmillan, British Prime Minister in the late 1950s. When asked what was the hardest thing about his job, he replied: “Events, dear boy, events.”

This book provides examples of best practices and critical imperatives for attracting, retaining, and multiplying talent in the new global economy. Authored by three recognized leaders in the field of talent management—Peter Cheese, Robert J. Thomas and Elizabeth Craig, all from global management consultancy Accenture—The Talent Powered Organization is the first book in its field to provide a thorough and holistic perspective on how to respond to these new challenges on a global scale. The book offers numerous case studies that illuminate every dimension of managing people, from defining talent requirements and their critical links to business strategy, to innovative ways of sourcing, building, and deploying talent at the right time and in the right roles, and to accounting for and measuring investments in talent. 

Talent managers today must cope with a world of change and contrast:

• Global abundance but local scarcity of talent
• Fewer young people and more older people, many heading rapidly towards retirement
• Rising demand for new skills aggravated by demographic pressures and educational shortcomings
• New methods of working and new relationships between users and suppliers of talent
• More diverse and remote or even virtual workforces with different attitudes to work across the generations 
• Steady change in the nature of work, with more people working in the fuzzy world of information

The Challenge of Engagement
Overlaying all of these trends is the challenge of engagement. Finding talent is not enough if it is not aligned and motivated, yet the evidence suggests that many workforces are less and less engaged.  Different generations have different attitudes to work, which makes it harder to deal with and engage workers. But without that understanding, business growth is unsustainable. 

Among the key points the book makes are:

- Engagement is a mysterious and elusive ingredient, yet it is something that can transform business performance. Google attracts, engages, and retains employees by continuously promoting the opportunity to do exciting and important work in a fun environment. Google fosters engagement by building a sense of community through collaborative work experiences  as a crucial part of the company’s brand.

- Human capital strategy must be an intrinsic part of any business strategy, but it requires the discipline of a long-distance runner. Royal Bank of Scotland is a leader in measuring people and their relationship to business performance. The book shows how RBS measures engagement and employee satisfaction against improvement in sales and customer service.

- Learning and skills development are important capabilities for the talent-powered organization, and the best programs recognize that not everyone learns in the same way.  The U.S. Tennessee Valley Authority leverages its learning investments by developing competency where it is most critical—not an easy task considering that its workforce ranges from the agency’s own law enforcement personnel to custodians.  The book shows how, organized into “job families,” each group has its own profession-specific learning team.

A Perfect Storm
Talent issues have been propelled to the top of the corporate agenda. They have brought with them a mix of new opportunities and challenges that must be met with new thinking.  These represent an extraordinary level of change—almost the “perfect storm”—in the field of talent management.

The Talent Powered Organization reveals that the hidden key to sustainable competitive advantage in a turbulent global economy is to find new sources of talent and to multiply the value each employee provides, no matter what their place in the organization. The book demonstrates that the development of a distinctive capability for multiplying talent can create extraordinary value and become an important and lasting source of competitive advantage that powers an organization to high performance.

Click here to read the first chapter in full.

About the Authors
Peter Cheese is the managing director of Accenture’s Human Performance practice. He has more than 25 years of experience in management consulting, and consults with clients around the world on talent management issues. Robert J. Thomas is executive director of the Accenture Institute for High Performance.  Specializing in leadership and organizational strategy, he is a published author with several books in this field.  Elizabeth Craig is a research fellow at the Accenture Institute for High Performance, and specializes in organizational behavior and human resource management.

Shining a spotlight on 43 outstanding women executives, business owners and companies, the winners of the 4th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business, presented by Infiniti, were announced on November 12 in categories including Best Entrepreneur, Best Executive, Most Innovative Company and Best Overall Company.

Winners ranged from corporate heavyweights like Travelocity and UPS– to lesser-known or newer companies such as ExpoTV, a video-based social commerce network; Care.com, a company that connects people seeking qualified caregivers in areas including child care, tutoring, senior care and pet care; and Constant Contact, an innovative email marketing company.  Notable winners include:

Travelocity CEO Michelle Peluso (Best Executive)
ExpoTV (Most Innovative Company of the Year)
UPS (Women Helping Women Award)
Constant Contact CEO Gail Goodman (Best Entrepreneur)
Care.com (Best New Company of the Year)
Intern Queen Inc. President Lauren Berger (Best Young Entrepreneur)
Domino Magazine (Community Involvement Program of the Year)
Signature HomeStyles CEO Madolyn Johnson (Infiniti “Woman With Drive” Award)

For a complete list of Finalists and Stevie Award winners, visit: www.stevieawards.com/women.

The winners of the 2007 competition were announced at an awards reception at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.  More than 800 nominations were submitted for consideration in over 40 categories this year.

		Learn More About the Stevie Awards for Women in Business

Blogs, or web logs, are all the rage these days. Each month in this space we'll point you to several blogs that we think might be of interest to you.

Deadline Hollywood Daily : An "alternative Journalist's Web Site" that has come into the limelight as a result of the writers' strike.
Molecular Voices : Molecular's blog for discussion of the impact of digital media.
Taleo Blog : A blog about developments in Talent Management, from its definition and practices to the latest research in the field.
Cheezhead : Joel Cheesman’s blog is a daily chronicle of how the Internet and technology are shaping human resources and how organizations can attract the talent needed to thrive in tomorrow’s economy.