Keynote interviewees discuss media without borders, and a case study combines integrated marketing and internal strategies.

Media without Borders

Doug Weaver, president, Upstream Group, led Tuesday morning's keynote interviews with the two executives steering the digital course for CBS and The Washington Post: Larry Kramer, president, CBS Digital Media and Caroline Little, CEO and publisher, Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive.

Before introducing Kramer to the stage, Weaver discussed how convergence is going to happen in the next few years and marketers must deal with this new "Media without Borders."

"In the decades to come, the idea of one brand and one medium will become archaic. Each medium is now becoming all media,” said Weaver.

Weaver asked Kramer to comment on the great legacy of CBS, what it means to CBS Digital Media and how the news business has changed since going online.

Kramer said that CBS dominated the television for many years but was "a little late to the new media game" and at times, according to Kramer, CBS Digital Media "feels like a little company within a huge company.

"It’s an interesting attempt to change the minds and to open minds to new media," Kramer added.

Kramer, a veteran journalist with an impressive media resume, said that morphing the network's news online was an easy sell. CBS saw how more people were consuming news online, so they started producing around the clock and with no delay-- for the consumer who wants to read the news when it breaks. He noted that the audience for the CBS Evening News is still strong with more than 22 million nightly viewers.

Resonating Weaver's take on the converging media, Kramer commented that the online news is still maturing and developing.

"We are starting to use video online and empowering the consumer with news while it happens. Soon we are going to be sending mobile video blurbs. The news now is not just text online but video breaking news, too," Kramer said.

He also said that at CBS Digital Media, "We are starting to pace ourselves with technology and not let it drive us. So, we're using new technology the best we can now."

Weaver asked Kramer if 2006 will be the year of content and programming online. Kramer said that content is an integral part of these new platforms but questions arise: How can we create for the web? How can we create content for mobile?

"This is a new world as opposed to several years ago when the technology really wasn't there," Kramer said.

"We are doing video on demand (VOD) on CBS.com so now we look at each partner as a technology as well as a marketing partner. For the consumer, we want to make it easy for them to get the show when they want it," said Kramer on increasing audience through new media.

Weaver asked Kramer what he would say to the marketing public on the value of content with new media.

"The marketing community has the unique opportunity to lead the development in combining the sight and sound of online video. Bring your ideas to us. We and the creative community are open to hear new ideas. We are looking. Nobody has the answers. The chances for you to do something ground breaking is here. It's wide open. We're trying to create an engagement metric with all these platforms. It's a very exciting time," Kramer said.

Weaver then invited Caroline Little, CEO and publisher, Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, to share the stage with him. Prior to joining Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, Little was deputy general counsel at U.S. News & World Report, The Atlantic Monthly and Fast Company.

Weaver asked Little what her approach was to putting The Washington Post online.

"It’s our tenth anniversary for the Washington Post being online. And in the last couple of years, there is just so much more going on. People expect a two-way conversation on the web. Our approach is now to open up all the walls," Little said.

With the new "Media without Borders" also comes some challenges as Little talked about the paper's many blogs and the occasional attacks that are posted against the paper or its reporters.

Little explained that with the new participatory technology of blogs comes some problems but the paper plans to tie in a registration process for posts as well as a way for the community to monitor the comments.

"We are determined to do it and keep this (the blogs) up," Little added.

The CEO of Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive says that putting a paper that was previously regarded as a local paper on the internet has greatly increased the distribution of the Washington Post.

Little also said that with consumer generated media such as blogs, the mainstream media must "listen, respond and follow the breaking stories. You can't ignore it. There is more at risk if you don't pay attention."

Integrated Marketing, Internal Strategies

Also on Tuesday morning, Gay Gaddis, CEO, T3 (Think Tank) and iMedia contributor, presented a case study on integrated marketing. Gaddis discussed T3's approach to a holiday campaign for J.C. Penny Company.

"We wanted to make the holiday J.C. Penny site fun and provide a fluid and engaging browsing experience," Gaddis said.

The integrated aspects of the campaign involved combining advertising elements from TV, catalog, retail and online-- to make them all work together seamlessly.

Gaddis stated that other goals included making a limited path for the online consumer to purchase the goods, creating a polished site and creating a personalized experience for the consumer. 

"The campaign was also about creating an emotional connection with the online audience. We gave them, through holiday want ecards and gift cards, an opportunity to personalize the experience," said Gaddis.

Gaddis took Brand Summit attendees through the integration of the holiday shopping site with some assets from the catalog. The campaign proved to also be an exercise in internal strategies as well as integration.

"Our job was to make all the different components work together," Gaddis said, on the actual creative and client needs. "The online team wants this… while the client wants this… while the retailer wants this. However, the end customer experience is what it's all about."

Takeaways from Gaddis' presentation include:

• Optimization
• Integration is about bringing internal teams, strategies and technology development together
• Make the design and functionality your dynamic duo
• Customer and client experience.

Roger Park is an associate editor for iMedia Connection.

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