Posts filed under 'Advertising'
Posted February 11th, 2009 by Kristin
It’s the day you’ve all been waiting for: the second edition of Marketing to the Social Web: How Digital Customer Communities Build Your Business is now available.
First published in June 2007, Larry Weber’s second book quickly became a bestselling guide on how to build businesses online. It talks about the decline of traditional advertising and helps marketers navigate the evolving digital world of blogs, reputation aggregators, social networks and e-communities. These environments, he shows, present new opportunities for businesses to maximize marketing investments.
Grab a copy to read the new foreword by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and communications consultant Andrea Weckerle, a new chapter on Facebook as a marketing tool, and updated examples and interviews. You can also check out a video of Larry talking about what’s new in edition two. Let us know what you think!
Posted January 26th, 2009 by Rebecca
Will the economy make advertisers run for the traditional advertising hills? This was the topic of the evening at the Digital State 2009 BIMA/MITX event I attended recently.
All 5 the panelists were survivors of the dot bomb. And 4 out of the 5 agreed that the economic downturn of 2001 was far more devastating to the industry, largely because the Internet was in its infancy and the value of digital marketing was not yet established.
Their experience reinforces our thinking at Digital Influence Group – that a flight to safety by advertisers would be a huge mistake. Clients who reduce their presence online could miss out.
Those who capitalize on this environment by using social media could gain an increased ability to listen to the market, share their vision, influence their customers and generate business income.
Major takeaway from the evening: the economy is tough on everyone. But, savvy clients will recognize that some of the best opportunities come after a downturn and that the value proposition digital marketing offers is now clear and measureable.
Posted October 10th, 2008 by Brian Cavoli
It happens every time, when economic times get tough companies look to cut marketing budgets first. A study of CMOs conducted this summer by Epsilon found that this recession will be no exception, but with one interesting exception. Budgets for digital media are expected to increase.
In an environment of intense budget pressure, marketers need to invest in the channels that are the most accountable and have proven to generate the greatest results. But this doesn’t mean plastering the web with banner ads - old methods of shout advertising are still going to generate old results. Digital media has become more effective because it is more personal. Consumers and B2B purchasers will spend more time researching purchase decisions and the internet offers them all the content they could ever want plus opportunity to get advice from others who are already customers. A company’s ability to understand and participate in these conversations to help their customers become their advocates are the ones that will thrive in a recession period.
Here is the quote from the study:
“Senior marketing executives anticipate further cuts but are confident that they will be able to manage their budgets by focusing spending where it will have the greatest impact. For most, that means a change in marketing channels. As the overall marketing pool diminishes, the budget for interactive and digital marketing is dramatically increasing, while that for traditional marketing continues to shrink”
Posted August 1st, 2008 by Adam
Like any football fan, I’m gearing up for my favorite sports season, which is why Reebok’s “Join the Migration” had me riveted within the first 2 seconds of the commercial. I saw this ad for the first time this past weekend and watched as attentively as I have watched any ad in recent memory. Great song, great visual and a unique premise for a sports ad. I love the walking (as opposed to the flying) V.
The ad concludes with a call-to-action: “txt ‘migrate’ to 94444”. This type of call to action is appearing more frequently in TV ads both as a channel to connect with consumers and a way measure the impact of the ads. And although I know sending Reebok a text is an invitation for future SMS spam, I figured I’d give it a try. Despite having no idea what I was texting for, the ad had served its purpose – I was curious and compelled.
And what happened after I sent the text? Nothing. I have not received any return text or confirmation that it was received. I found the description of the text component on YouTube:
Fans can text MIGRATE to 94444 and they’ll be sent a link to the Migration WAP site where they can enter to win a trip to the ‘09 Pro Bowl, download a free NFL wallpaper, watch the commercial, browse Reebok products including the new Speedwick tee with official NFL branding and more.
There was obviously a promotion. I texted again a few days later, in case I somehow botched the first one. But I got the same lack of result. So after Reebok spends the money to create a 60-second ad targeting me, a male in the coveted 25-34 target, the call-to-action is a dead end for the viewer. Although the front end is key in bringing the consumer in, it doesn’t mean a thing if the back end doesn’t execute the main goal of your ad – engaging with your potential customers.
Has anyone had a different experience? Is it just my phone that Reebok hates?
Posted July 16th, 2008 by Brian Cavoli
The Future of Media Summit is being held this week in Sydney Australia with a live video link to Silicon Valley. Now in its third year, this ambitious event addresses the rapidly changing media landscape and offers a vision for the future of media strategies, journalism, privacy, TV and video.
The event is accompanied by a detailed report which is available for free on their site, but I’ll summarize it for you here.
The big idea is that we are now entering a new “media economy” where there are no walls between media and entertainment. More of our social interactions are occurring across multiple media channels and every organization is a media participant creating, aggregating and disseminating content for a business objective. In this environment people have an almost “insatiable desire for content and connection” creating a significant growth opportunity for media, entertainment and companies in related industries.
The report identifies seven forces shaping media:
1. Increased media consumption – The more media we can get, the more we want. As consumption continues to increase, so will clutter and noise causing ad effectiveness to decline
2. Fragmentation – More channels and media options will continue to fragment audiences dividing audiences into smaller and smaller segments.
3. Participation – We are in a content creation explosion. More non-professionals are creating content and more attention will be paid to participatory channels like social networks.
4. Personalization – Users will expect to have more control over how, when and where they consume content causing an increase in behavioral targeted advertising
5. New revenue models – Micropayment for content will remerge and media companies will unbundle ad sales and content creation
6 Generational change- Younger generations are far more internet focused so the average age of TV and radio audience will increase. Ad dollars will continue to shift towards new media outlets.
7. Increasing bandwidth – As broadband reaches more of the world and mobile broadband accelerates, content will be available on demand to anyone anywhere.
This is an interesting take on the future of media. There is nothing particularly new here, but this presents a very compelling story about the increasing power of the individual. All of these forces are evolving at the same time. Even if you don’t agree with how they will evolve, it is easy to see that there are substantial shifts occurring that will change the way companies approach marketing in the future. This vision is an exciting opportunity for marketer to improve their effectiveness by adopting the principles of social media marketing today.
There is a quote I love in this report from the author, he said “In uncertain times, don’t try to predict the future. Systematically explore possible futures.”
Several bloggers are providing summaries of the sessions in Sydney and the event host is microblogging the event with this CoverItLive stream.
Posted June 5th, 2008 by Kristin
So my highly esteemed colleague Scott IMed me a link this morning to a YouTube video, Interactive Card Trick. At first I got caught up in the trick, which I proudly recognized was one I had fallen for in an email my sister Kim sent me last year. As you probably already know, Scott didn’t send it to me because of the trick, and of course, he already knew how the trick works. (I have an annoying tendency to be slow on the uptake.) It’s the interactive component that makes this simple video noteworthy. Just think of what that means for videos we create with our clients moving forward. Awesome creative possibilities!
Posted December 28th, 2007 by Kristin
On December 13, ad agency Arnold announced the start of “a viral video series which gives the agency’s perspective on current trends, happenings and important issues in the world of advertising.” They call it Arnold On.
It amuses me that they’re calling it a “viral video series.” A viral video is one that is passed along from user to user (usually because it’s funny or really cool). However, it’s immediately apparent how un-viral the Arnold On videos are, without any regard to the content. There is no “send to a friend” or “forward” functionality. You can’t embed the video on your blog or profile page (not that I imagine the demand to do so is high). Users are instead asked to keeping coming back for updates, which for now involves going to www.arnoldworldwide.com and finding Arnold On under the Our Agency section of the nav. Sure… that’s likely to get tons of repeat traffic.
What should they do with Arnold On? For starters, turn it into a video blog. Allow and encourage comments and feedback. Give it a unique url and/or feature it more prominently on the website. Oh, and if they want it to be “viral,” make it easy for users to pass it along. Duh.
Posted August 24th, 2007 by Char Lyn
Have you noticed the new features on YouTube? I love the new beta page—it’s cleaner and just feels better in my browser. Today I noticed that they’ve also added forward and back navigation buttons to the recommended videos at the end of each clip. The forward button also has a timer feature that lets you know when the presented clips will change. I’m thrilled about these nav buttons since I can never mange to click on an interesting video before it is replaced by a new one. They’ve also added thumbs up/down buttons to the comments to help filter out the drivel, which I greatly appreciate.
Successful Web services like YouTube have learned that they have to continuously improve in order to stay relevant. But, they also have to earn revenue. In addition to other improvements this week, YouTube has rolled out a new advertising format that overlays the videos like a news ticker at the bottom of the video. Its use is very limited right now, and I had to watch a number of videos before I found one with the new ads. The blogosphere is voicing its opinions about these ads in posts like these on Profy, CyberNet News, and Jaffe Juice.
According to Mashable, Google is making the ads optional for the content owners. If these ads survive the current maelstrom of mostly negative reaction, Google could potentially use the format to make revenue from the extremely popular embed feature, which currently allows people to put ad-free clips directly on their blogs and Web pages.
Corporate America has capitalized on the platform by sponsoring vloggers, posting their commercials, and buying banner ads. The new ad format may increase commercial use of YouTube and water-down the user generated content, but as the largest video community on the Web, it will continue to get the eyeballs marketers covet.
Posted August 21st, 2007 by admin
Heavy.com, providers of such online video hit series as “Superficial Friends” and “Behind the Music that Sucks” has today announced the public beta of its own ad network, The Husky Network.
According to the press release, Heavy will be wrapping video players, such as YouTube or Revver, with branded skins and selling them on a CPM basis. According to the screenshot below, Heavy will be dropping a big static pop up on your page with a hole in the middle for the video to play in.
Posted March 23rd, 2007 by Scott
Does anyone remember the movie Edtv? Well here is a real life Edtv sort of show covering the life of one man and his friends 24/7. I came across Justin.tv and figured I would throw my two cents in. Being in the social media industry, I think this is a perfect example of how companies need to utilize online audiences to promote their products. Justin.tv has only been live for a little over four days now, but the number of sites linking in and the countries they are located in shown by Technorati, depicts how far this campaign has reached so far. I think this is an ingenious way to draw in a crowd, keep their attention and have some fun while doing it.
Check out this Wired News article if you want to see what life on Justin.tv has been like so far.
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