• by Nina Lentini , Staff Writer @Nina_Lentini, January 31, 2008

We’re into our second go round of naming Marketers of the Year, with 12 more months of taking stock of what’s happening in the world of consumer goods marketing under our belts. If anything, on-going changes in the industry sped up over the course of 2007, culminating in the annual ANA meeting, where marketers sought to understand at least some of them.

The shift to digitally delivered media was punctuated by Microsoft chairman Steve Ballmer’s declaration in Phoenix that his company’s business is about “digital, digital, digital advertising, advertising, advertising.”

Our Marketer of the Year, AT&T, turned from telegraph to tech without losing its heft. Once regarded as a stodgy, if reliable, behemoth, American Telephone & Telegraph zipped from that old moniker to the slightly more serviceable SBC to the more current Cingular and back to AT&T, all in a seemingly seamless manner and in just this one year.

AT&T was part of the reason we honored Apple for the second year in a row. Whereas last year, the company was our Marketer of the Year, this year it is our Technology Marketer of the Year. Apple’s prescient move to partner with AT&T surprised us, but all too soon it began to look like a no-brainer as AT&T surged forward. The Apple brand also helped AT&T gain younger demos.

Apple’s launch of the iPhone was a public relations coup, with buzz doing all the heavy lifting. While 2007’s financial results would have left another company gasping for breath, it was just another day in the life, as one observer notes, for Apple.

What does it take to be named a Marketer of the Year? Innovation? Endurance? There were solid highlights for several companies this year. Taco Bell, which endured a nightmare of fantastic proportions when rats overran a KFC, bounced back by the time baseball season ended with a winning World Series tie-in. Another fast-food giant, Quiznos, turned an unexpected visit from a coyote into public relations gold.

Yes, many marketers have their moments. Some turn lemons in to lemonade while others miss opportunities. Still, we looked for — and found — marketers who make steady, solid progress by creating a foundation from which to build, through industrious planning, a brand or brands that cannot be denied. Their stories are told herein.

Nina M. Lentini, Editor
nina@mediapost.com