Jan 1, 2007 12:00 AM, By Drew Neisser

During Roger Federer’s smashing victory at last year’s U.S. Open, the camera swished frequently to Tiger Woods, who supposedly was there as Roger’s guest. There they were, two of the best athletes in the world, sharing a cross-border, cross-sport, cross-race moment of mutual admiration.

Were these the innocent actions of two famous friends, or a brilliant product placement scheme by Nike? Only Phil Knight knows for sure. But we should look at 2007 marketing trends with both wonder and cynicism.

1. INSTANT REPLAY—Just as the new instant-replay system at this year’s U.S. Open kept the line judges honest, bloggers are bringing a new level of scrutiny to corporations and their marketing. Create a fake blog like Sony did recently with AllIWantForXmasIsAPSP.com, and you will be flogged online and off. Ignore customer service, and the world will know about it faster than you can say “exploding computer” (as Dell found out last year). Directness and honesty will help you not only win a lot of points, but also recover from some bad shots.



2. SERVICE RETURNS—The winners will be companies that focus on customer satisfaction. The best ones will double their efforts to make consumers happy at every point of contact. And they will radically improve online service, providing “live support” and improved search functionality so that consumers can find what they seek with a click or two.



3. NET PROMOTER SCORES BIG—More firms will use metrics like the Net Promoter Score (NPS) to assess event marketing effectiveness and reward customer-centric performance. The beauty of the NPS is that you have to ask only one question: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend Brand X to a friend?”



4. GREEN IS GOOD—The U.S. Open may have repainted its courts from green to blue. But the hot color for marketers this year will be green (as in eco-friendly). Wal-Mart appears to be leading the way with its new Embrace the Earth mission that pushes “sustainability” on its vendors the way it used to push price-slashing. Firms that sell 25% or more of their goods through Wal-Mart—like P&G, J&J and Unilever—will be forced to examine the greenness of their manufacturing and distribution processes.



5. NO MORE LINES—Marketers have for years divided their communication budgets into “above the line” and “below the line.” More recently, they have split them into offline and online. Hopefully, 2007 will be the year that they forget the lines and look at their communications as one continuous conversation that seamlessly weaves across media.



6. INNOVATION TRIUMPHS—Part of the genius of Woods and Federer is that they successfully execute shots that their opponents can’t even imagine attempting. Marketers and agencies should study their example. Apple continues to be the poster child for innovation, bringing out iPods and Macintoshes that are faster, cheaper, smaller and cooler before rivals can even respond to previous iterations.

Drew Neisser is President & CEO of New York-based Renegade Marketing Group.

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