Franchise Update Magazine Issue III, 2016 | Page 58

(L-R) David Buckley, Doug Koegeboehn, Terri Snyder,
Steve Schildwachter, Ed Waller
on the ways they’ve implemented different media tools and creative marketing
strategies to build successful marketing
initiatives.
Koegeboehn got chuckles when he
said, “Making great creative is hard, and
it sucks.” He suggested marketers put
their time spent on integrated marketing
into creative because, as he said, “If your
creative sucks, all your media channels
will suck. You have to tell the right story.”
Snyder drew appreciative laughs in
retelling the “Wiener Wars” story, which
began this past February when Burger King
launched its hot dog ad campaign—months
before she had expected. In her countercampaign, which she had to develop very

Curt Steinhorst

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quickly, she wanted “edgy but not middle
school” as good-humored wiener jokes
made their way across the national media landscape. “We got $1 million of free
PR in a week,” she said, with major media
outlets having a field day. Koegeboehn,
far from being an idle bystander, implemented his own integrated, multimedia
efforts and, because there are not a lot
of competitors in the hot dog space, said
the brouhaha actually helped his brand
by popularizing Wienerschnitzel’s main
product to a wider audience.
Two more concurrent breakout sessions—one on franchisee compliance and
participation in local marketing, and one
on SEO and web development—filled
the next hour before the closing keynote
address brought everyone together again
for a final session.
Keynote #2: Customer ADD
Curt Steinhorst, founder and president
of the Promentum Group, a communications consultancy, is an expert on crafting
messages for today’s distracted audiences.
“How do you go about reaching customers who have never had more coming at
them than they have today?” he asked.
Citing his own issues growing up with
ADD, he said that today’s 24/7 connected
culture has fundamentally altered the way
people work, engage, communicate, and
relate to one another. But there are ways
to rise above the noise and craft a message that cuts through today’s distracted
audience. “In the end what draws our attention is the emotional connection we
have,” he said.
And while today’s customers, with their
portable phones, tablets, and watches, are

“untethered,” he said it’s also never been
easier to reach them—if you know where
they spend their time online. “You have
to reach customers where they are,” he
said. The flip side, he added, is that “customers expect to be able to reach you on
all channels all the time,” creating an ongoing debate over how fast brands need
to respond to emails, tweets, and other
customer input.

Food and games
The hard work completed, it was time to
relax. Their heads filled with newfound
marketing expertise and their pockets filled
with business cards, attendees trooped
over to Maggiano’s Little Italy, a short
walk up the road, for the closing dinner
and some fun. The evening was replete
with great food, lively conversation, and
a contest for each table to create a slogan
or campaign for the Rio Olympics, which
brought the proceedings to a raucous,
celebratory conclusion.
Save the date for next year’s FCMC,
which will return to the InterContinental
Buckhead in Atlanta, June 19–21, 2017. n

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