Video: Mini’s Lee Nadler on Marketing and Media Innovation

NADLER: At the end of the day, people need to sell their product or service, so we have to keep an eye on selling cars. A lot of times, people forget that when they talk about impressions and awareness and all that. What we try to look at is a continuum. And the change, which is so dramatically different now, is that the purchase funnel is no longer linear.  People are moving from place to place, consuming media in different bites and in different ways, whereas we used to think they went from awareness to consideration to maybe an action and then a sale.

NADLER: Now we can watch and interact with people as they're taking certain actions. Each of those actions, even if it's not a sale at the end, those actions are indicators.  How can media actually connect with people at the right time, with the right message, depending on where they are in the process? Watch Lee's full interview here.

NADLER: It's a challenge for the agencies, but I also think it's a challenge for the [media] companies because the agencies will have the data that they're given and then the media firms themselves will only have their slice of the data. That's why networks became so advantageous, like DoubleClick where I started in '96.  It's interesting how some of the techniques still being used today were formed now 20 years ago, when I started there.

NADLER: I think there's a big struggle right now of people trying to understand how to get their hands around [what] some are calling big data. But it's not about the numbers so much. It's about understanding where that individual is in the process. Watch Lee's full interview here.

NADLER: One of the greatest things about the industry right now, especially from the media side, is that there are a lot of media companies starting content studios. The media partners themselves have an understanding of their audience and what is actually going to connect with their audience. Like, what kind of content they're coming to this publication or this TV programming for or this website for. And if they can take their content studios and not just create cool stuff cheaper, but actually bring those insights to the table, now there is a merging of what I know about the audience I'm trying to reach and what they love about our product, but also what the content provider knows about their audience and what they love about their content. The magic happens when you can put those things together.

NADLER: I think people are still stuck so much on the efficiency and the metrics that they're not spending enough time trying to figure out how to actually engage with people in these different channels. Watch Lee's full interview here.

NADLER: Branded content is a term that I guess is here to stay. I understand the reason we have a name like that. But I really look at it as engagement content.  Its got to be engaging to the audience first and foremost. I think if we start by looking at it as branded content, meaning we're going to get out message through content, that's the wrong way to go about it. Mini Takes the States is a program that we do every two years. It's a way to engage with our owners, and it doesn't start with content. It actually starts with motoring across the country together for two weeks.

Part of what we're trying to do there is really engage with people, and part of what we're trying to do then through content is be able to share and amplify the stories to try and show other people about the passion that Mini owners have.  You mentioned two partners who we worked with successfully, one BuzzFeed and the other The Wall Street Journal.

Watch my full interview with Mini's Lee Nadler here and view the full Legends & Leaders Video Interview Series here.

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