Case Study 1: Development of Online Revenue Growth Plan

 

Summary

- Leading national B2C media site with 5MM monthly visitors looking to grow revenue year-over-year at a rate surpassing that of competitors.

Problem

- Lack of new ideas.

- Low understanding of data available on how to use/analyze to advantage.

Actions

- Identified and quantified options in e-commerce, newsletters, ad networking, ad pricing, national expansion, editorial focus, partnerships, mobile, video, and M&A/non-organic growth.

- Collaborated with advertisers, agencies and employees to identify and vet untapped growth drivers.

Results

- Delivered 3-5 year projections and plan enabling company to increase online revenue substantially, meeting parent company investment requirements.

 

Case Study 2: Using Data Analysis to Improve Business Performance

 

Summary

- Employ a number of data tactics to reduce expenses and increase revenue.

Problem

- Little to no qualified resources allocated to data mining and analysis.

Actions

- Developed statistical report indicating year-over-year trends in Classifieds advertising revenue by ad category to inform sales reps of trends and opportunities.

- Secured buy-in from all relevant stakeholders and departments in the development of an Essbase forecasting system that projected production volumes based on newspaper subscription orders, reducing the number of overage printings.

- Launched large-scale Six Sigma project to increase efficiency and reduce cost in the advertising sales process by focusing on the needs and requirements of the customer. • Conducted online real estate advertiser research survey that was showcased at an annual industry event.

Result

- Actionable business insight based on actual data findings rather than “intuition.”

- Discovery and pursuit of new opportunities.

- Elimination of costly or timely activities that did not benefit the overall business.

 

Case Study 3: Marketing and Business Development for Mobile Application Start-up

 

Summary

- Early start-up eager to build audience, retailer participation and business partnerships for new smart phone application.

Problem

-Little to no marketing or promotional budget.

Action

- Source content and retailer partnerships based on barter and co-marketing arrangements.

- Leverage social media, viral marketing and blogging efforts to build user base organically.

Result

- Launched application in two months with fully populated database of retailers.

 

Case Study 4: Development of Online Video Business

 

Summary

- Traditional print publisher looking to expand its product mix to increase advertising revenue through development of online video business.

Problem

- Video has become an essential part of the digital advertising product mix, as clients and agencies want more comprehensive digital campaigns on entertainment sites, but did not fully understand how to effectively use it.

- Online video offers significant higher CPMs than display and search advertising.

- Video requires fundamentally different skill sets and technology to deploy for traditional publishers.

Actions

- Performed internal study to determine the right video product to create (e.g. subscription, ad driven, archive, new content, etc.)"

- Developed infrastructure and programming strategy, including the decision of: which brands we would create original programming for and which ones would only have third-party content; working with Editorial to put together programming strategy; and determining the advertising product mix (pre-roll, mid-roll, sync banner, etc.) by bran.

- Developed plan and negotiated multiple third-party content acquisitions deal for niche B2B websites where ROI does not warrant creation of in-house video content.

- Evaluated and negotiated video ad network deals to launch video advertising business.

- Created selection criteria and RFP for evaluation of multiple video CMS platforms; developed workflow processes for production and deployment of online video content onto various websites.

Result

- Generated about $3-5 million of incremental advertising revenues in 2008.

- Increased time on site by 25-60%.

 

Case Study 5: E-Commerce Strategy

 

Summary

- Assisted major entertainment website with the development of its e-commerce strategy.

Problem

- To boost growth for plateau-ing current revenue structure, needed additional revenue channels beyond advertising and subscription for online entertainment publisher.

Actions

- Determined the right products for each site, after evaluating multiple product categories for expansion.

- Identified appropriate partners in each product category and negotiated fixed and variable revenue enhancing deals.

- Negotiated the right deal structures to maximize revenue.

- Developed integration plan with Product team and merchandising plan with marketing team to ensure optimization of e-commerce deals.

Result

- Introduced new revenue streams, from such as selling books, branded products, music, white papers, and concert tickets.

- Produced $5 million dollars in incremental revenue annually in each of past three years.

 

Case Study 6: New Media Product Development for Print Publisher

 

Summary

- Traditional print publisher recognizes the need to develop new media products and revenue streams to counter slowing growth in $100M print subscription advertising and catalog business.

Problem

- Traditional print business experiencing low-growth, with an aging reader demographic.

- Leadership team had traditional publishing backgrounds in editorial, advertising sales, circulation/fulfillment, marketing, operations with little context for new media product business; traditional silo-ed culture, and little experience with cross-functional collaboration and rapid application development.

- Internet applications were text-based Web 1.0 with re-purposed editorial from the print editions and little bottom-line or brand engagement impact.

Action

- Enhanced communication and collaboration across leadership team to break-down silos and educate about emerging media trends, and new talent pool challenges; showcased cases from other sectors/industries.

- Sponsored company-wide action learning innovation team process, introduced customer segmentation and data mining, design and user personas.

- Re-designed and integrated functions, introduced new cross-functional roles and skills to the business; provided coaching for on-boarding and transition into corporate culture.

Result

- Web 2.0 and user generated content increased unique visitors by more than 500% on key online properties; won best in category competitions by industry groups.

- Market segmentation and data driven campaigns improves advertising sales targeting.

- Test-bed in place for new product franchise development, new media platforms (internet tv, video, radio, social media, social networking, mobile solutions) and new distribution (retail, online, partnership).

- Corporate culture re-invigorated, new product and innovation skills, cross-functional collaboration on new media projects, job mobility, retention.

 

Case Study 7: Digital Asset Management Process

 

Summary

- Reshape internal company process for archiving digital assets and position archives for monetization.

Problem

- Reduce internal editorial costs for digital content.

- Generate new external revenue streams for existing, published content.

Action

- Re-use a recently launched digital asset archive system as a foundation for redistributing content that has already been produced both internally across brands and externally for alternative products.

- Create a separate internal digital application for all-rights image content that can be easily searched to allow for a greater amount of re-use and re-publication of existing content throughout the company.

- Leverage the standard data format, PRISM XML, created by migration of all archived content to a single system to make it easier to create content feeds to syndicators.

- Create automated feeds that will facilitate the transfer of article content to external customers (syndication, other publications (websites, books, newspapers, custom products).

- Explore other non-traditional means of leveraging digital assets such as e-commerce and licensing.

Result

- New revenue sources achieved for existing image and editorial content.

- Improved data standardization and transformation processes.

- Lowered editorial costs from internal re-use vs. external purchase of stock photography.

- Improved digital archive makes research easier and benefits sales and licensing teams.

 

Case Study 8: Publisher E-Commerce Site Creation for Archived Images

 

Summary

- Built out e-commerce site for large publisher to monetize on its archival image content assets.

Problem

- Launch and manage a successful e-commerce site within a large publishing company to generate revenue from existing all-rights image content.

- Streamline and integrate order, inventory, and technical processes across multiple e-commerce sites.

- Increase sales and revenue.

Action

- Work with a cross-functional team of creative, marketing, sales, and technical staff to integrate several existing branded sites.

- Improve site traffic through key wording and search engine optimization.

- Segment customer-base into tiers for targeted e-mail marketing campaigns.

- Re-design sites to increase usability and improve the user experience.

- Explore partnerships with editorial staffs of magazines to co-promote and sell limited-time gift items covered by article content to create synergies between editorial and e-commerce and to diversify online product content.

Results

- Maintained profitability of initiative from launch.

- Re-design / increased usability, improved key wording and SEO which significantly increased site traffic.

- Reduced editorial costs for e-commerce, keeps former e-commerce spending internal within the company.

- Integrated e-commerce opportunities across brands.

- Reduced maintenance costs by consolidating processes, maintaining a single product database, consolidating vendor relationships.

- The published articles on promoted content creates free marketing opportunities.

 

Case Study 9: Wireless Product Launch

 

Summary

- Developed new wireless product suite for international retailer.

Problem

- Client had developed a thriving business selling wireless plans for major wireless carriers, but wanted to provide its own wireless service to customers.

Action

- Developed 3G Mobile Product Evaluation Tool to assess market potential of several products the team was considering.

- Developed detailed business plans and product descriptions for 16 product offerings. Client used this analysis to begin negotiations with several carriers on product descriptions, deal terms, and timing.

Result

- Developed the 3G wireless product portfolio.Product launch preparation currently underway.

 

Case Study 10: Connectivity Strategy for Consumer Technology Firm

 

Summary

- Developed strategy to launch a business division focused on bundling mobile broadband with content, hardware and services.

Problem

- Client had market leading position in consumer electronics sales and wanted to strengthen position by offering higher margin services and content.

Action

- Identified key industry and technical trends in the 4G wireless space, digital distribution, and hardware sales. Identified client’s strengths and weaknesses given these trends and suggested ways to mitigate risks.

- Drove creation of Mission, Vision, and Strategy Statements for the newly formed division.

- Developed 4G strategy for client to drive uptake of next generation products and optimally position themselves for the shift to 4G.

Result

- Convinced client of the need for a collaborative approach to consumer electronics design with OEMs and the need to establish an integrated solutions team to drive monetization for several groups within the organization.

- Articulated the strategy of the division and defined 4G product bundles to build multi-billion dollar business by 2013.

 

Case Study 11: Advertising and Marketing Analytics

 

Summary

- Established analytical tools to quantify advertising and marketing return on investment for Chief Marketing Officer of $8B electronics and entertainment company.

Problem

- Client determined their marketing budgets based largely on the success of each particular product line (e.g. based on percentage of sales), the clout of executives in charge, and intuition.

- CMO wanted to develop an analytical approach to marketing budget allocation based on potential to maximize sales.

Action

- Interviewed senior executives in all product divisions to understand key industry trends

- Gathered marketing spend from each product group and held workshops to estimate missing data.

- Worked with econometrics team to develop the analytical relationship between marketing investment and sales.

- Suggested reallocation of investment based on resulting econometric models.

- Redesigned marketing spend allocation process and data collection mechanism.

Result

- Defined new investment method based on marketing analytics and proposed reallocating substantial portion of spend to increase sales by $250MM.