Daily deal sites Groupon and LivingSocial saw their audiences approximately triple in the year to April 2011, with gains of 250% and 182%, respectively, according to comScore’s “State of the US Online Retail Economy in Q1 2011” report. But while both play in the same space, differences have emerged in the geographies and demographics of their users, as well as their deployment of display and paid search advertising.

Beyond the geographic divergence, each provider appears to attract different types of users. comScore found that internet users under 45 leaned toward Groupon, while those ages 45 and older skewed more in favor of LivingSocial. Those ages 12 to 25 underindexed on usage of daily deal sites in general, but underindexed less strongly on Groupon. Both sites were used by women more than men.

But Nielsen found the opposite age skew when it examined the sites’ demographics in March 2011. That analysis found that 33% of LivingSocial visitors were ages 21 to 34, compared to 25% for Groupon, while 51% of LivingSocial visitors were ages 35 to 64, vs. 57% for Groupon.

The dynamic nature of users opting in and opting out of Groupon and LivingSocial’s emails may, in part, be responsible for driving changing user demographics from month to month. This is a plausible scenario given consumers’ fickle spending behaviors and the services’ monthly churn rates.

In April, Groupon’s churn rate was 18% while LivingSocial’s was 22%, according to comScore. As of Q1, Groupon had about 83 million subscribers compared to LivingSocial’s 26 million.

Where advertising is concerned, while neither Groupon nor LivingSocial skimps on spending to attract users, they place a different emphasis on how they promote their deals.

The comScore analysis found that LivingSocial concentrated the majority (73%) of its display ads on the top five US Web properties, particularly Yahoo and MSN where the ads run mainly in email and news. The rest of the ads ran throughout the web. Groupon, however, ran only 31% of its ads on top publishers’ sites, spreading the majority (69%) around on mid-tier and more obscure sites.

Another strategic difference between the two providers, comScore noted, is that more than half (56%) of Groupon’s offers were for restaurants, while the hefty portion of LivingSocial’s deals (41%) were for books and magazines.

For more information on the frugal consumer please visit  http://www.bozell.com/thinking/marketing-research/the-frugal-consumer/

Because everything is new, and so much had to be done, we’ve all been working at a feverish pace to get everything ready. In the last few weeks the communications elements have rolled out. TV and radio spots are running, a new local website was launched, billboards and street pole banners were put up, an insert appeared in the paper, email marketing got hot and heavy, a text alert program was launched, airport multi-media displays at baggage claim began running. The list was long. And now the big event is about to kick off.

Yesterday was the official kick off press conference and even some of our interns got put to work. Joe Burke delivered some 20k information inserts for fans to area hotels and businesses. And both Joe and Jennifer Fisher acted as human easels today to make sure exhibits didn’t blow down during the press conference.

We had an entire crew down at the stadium for the press kickoff to work logistics. Pictured here are just a few. Interns Jennifer Fisher and Joe Burke and  staffers Emily Wenstrom and Laura Spaulding.

Just in the nick of time, literally with only 30 minutes to spare before the first team arrived on Wednesday, the airport welcome banners were installed.

Every year has its share of challenges. This year the big one is water. It’s everywhere. Even cropping up this week into parking lot D and giving officials some headaches. Flooding is also on the mind of fans coming into town and we’ve needed to provide information about road closures and suggested detours. This is the first time we’ve needed to add a page to the website to include updates on flooding and road detours. Challenges aside, everyone is powering through it and the show will go on. And it will be great!

Come on down and catch the free opening ceremonies and a game. Tickets are still available at the box office and the view is FINE!

This ad has been scrutinized by social conservatives across the country and has a lot of people outraged about the response.  Commentator Erin Brown of the right-leaning Media Research Center went so far as to call the ad “blatant propaganda celebrating transgendered children.”  She also accused J. Crew of exploiting Lyons’ son for its liberal agenda.

I find it hard to believe that critics are targeting J. Crew for such an innocent add.  The outrage over this ad is just one of the many examples of how people in our society become extremely uncomfortable when gender roles for boys/men are tested.

It’s ridiculous to me that this is even an issue. Guess what? Little boys like nail polish, just as little girls like nail polish, because it’s colorful and fun! End of story. Why not let little boys do what makes them happy without having to put labels on their behavior? Believe me, society will force them to conform to standard “male” behavior soon enough.

KUDOS  J. Crew for helping to expand the spectrum of gender expression, especially for little boys who are all too often bullied and teased for expressing themselves. Come on people, it’s just a cute ad with a cute mom-and-son scene and the kid wants to wear pink nail polish.  Get over it!

"Mud Girl"

I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed a TV ad campaign as much as I do Swiffer’s “What About Love” campaign. The term ‘clever’ has gotten kind of a bum rap in our industry. Why everyone knows that ‘clever’ copy has no substance to it – it’s just a cheap joke and nothing more. Often that’s true, but not in this case.

The “What About Love” campaign makes me smile every time I see it. Is it a cheap joke – yes – but what else is there to say about a mop? Nothing else that won’t get lost in the mundane and mindless drone of ads about household products. The campaign stands out in its use of tacky romantic clichés ‘cleverly’ tied to pick up lines – but the visual creative approach – the brilliance of dressing people up as mud, dirt and computer dust to give the tacky clichés ‘mopping’ relevance is wonderful.

"Nerd Girls"

The first of the series is the valley girl in her mud dress, heels and bag – how did they do that anyway? It looks so real! She scorns all of the filthy and disgusting germy mops that try to pick her up and is finally swept off her feet by the Swiffer mop as she utters her final line, “I like your pad.”

Next come the mud and dirt sisters. They may not have an acceptable mop in their sights – but at least they have each other. That is until dirt is picked up by the Swiffer mop and acknowledges, “You’re quite the pick up artist.” as mud looks on in distress. I can’t help it – I laugh every time.

Finally we have the Michael Scott look alike in his business suit fashioned from big fluffy keyboard lint. Michael lives ‘at the corner of J and K’ and hangs out at the “space bar,” and he too succumbs to the charms of the Swiffer dust cloth.

"Keyboard Guy"

The ‘clever’ lines alone would not cut it. The ‘clever’ lines perfectly timed and juxtaposed against the expertly designed and totally ridiculous costumes and high level production quality makes it a scream! They got my attention and made me think about their product far longer than anything else they could have done! Well done!

And for those of you on “Commercials I hate” who find these ads so offensive – there are plenty of dating services out there – don’t despair – get busy and find your special companion!

The feature rolls out in the U.S. first, and later this year, internationally. Yahoo Search Direct predictive-search technology comes several months after Google Instant. The feature is geared to help searchers find answers, not links, faster.

Search Direct covers top trending searches, movies, TV, sports teams and players, weather, local, travel, stocks and shopping categories on Yahoo.com. Search Direct starts working as soon as you click inside the query window. A dropdown box displays the latest trending searches before you’ve typed a single character.  A larger window to the right of the trending list displays relevant information as you type.

Enter “cameras,” for instance, and Search Direct displays camera pricing information for Yahoo Shopping.

• Trending Searches – The moment the cursor hits the search box, top search trends appear and are updated every 10 minutes to display the latest and greatest search trends.
• Search Previews – Search Direct predicts the search term as you type, providing the 10 most likely searches. You can then easily scan each option to see the related top results and find the best match for your needs.
• Direct Answers – For many common searches, Search Direct provides instant answers before you click the Search button. Find an address or phone number, a three-day weather forecast, financial stock performance, the top trending stories at Yahoo! News, or when and where a movie is playing – all without going to a results page.
• Direct Results – When you scan the search options and find the site you need, Search Direct provides exactly that – direct access to the site. No more overwhelming pages of links.
• Rich Content – For all top searches about sports, top news stories, and finance, Search Direct displays rich content that only the world’s largest digital media company can provide. For example, type “n” to get the Yahoo! News display, which always shows the top two trending stories.

Yahoo!’s share of the $12.37 billion US search advertising market fell to 10.4% in 2010, down from 13.7% in 2009, according to eMarketer. This year, Yahoo!’s share of overall US search ad revenues is expected to fall further to 8.1%.  Much of the decline in Yahoo!’s search business is a result of Bing’s rise.

Writing this article got me curious so I decided to take an informal survey here at Bozell and found that 99% of employees use Google as their preferred search engine.  Only one person listed Bing and no one listed Yahoo. Granted this was a very small (40 participants) & controlled group but I think it definitely shows us that Google is still the 1,000 pound gorilla in the search world.

Yahoo’s Search Direct to me is a little underwhelming and probably won’t be a game changer.  Marketers are attracted to volume when it comes to bidding on paid-search ads, so consumers would need to begin using Yahoo search for market share to even change. People don’t typically jump from one search engine to another quickly.  They are very loyal to the one they like.

More information on this new technology is available in beta form at search.yahoo.com within the United States.

This program was initiated to provide consumers with a better understanding of and greater control over ads that are served to them based on their online behavior. Consumers can click on this Ad Choices icon to essentially opt-out of receiving online behavioral advertising.

So What Does This Mean

Effective last week on some online sites, ALL behaviorally targeted placements will automatically display an “Ad Choices” icon in the corner of the ad unit. The icon implementation process requires no additional creative time on the advertisers end.

This icon will be automatically included on all ad creative running for behavioral targeted campaigns on sites that mandate this. Rest assured that other sites will follow in the coming months.

*Currently Google does not require this icon to be added to retargeting ads but this could change at any time.

For more detailed information about Ad Choices please visit http://www.aboutads.info/

After 2009’s downslide, US online ad spending in 2010 will rise by 13.9%, reaching a record $25.8 billion. And in that same vein, internet ad spending will hit new peaks in each of the following four years, passing $30 billion in 2012 and breaking the $40 billion barrier in 2014.

The more granular quarter-by-quarter picture shows a record spend of $6.42 billion in Q3 2010, as reported by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers (IAB-PwC), followed by a new record of $7.25 billion in Q4, according to eMarketer projections.

“A spending peak in Q4 is likely, primarily because Q4 has been the biggest quarter for US online ad spending every year but one since 1999,” said David Hallerman, eMarketer principal analyst and author of the new report, “US Ad Spending: Online Outshines Other Media.”

Such spending will bring double-digit growth to online advertising for five consecutive years. The internet is the only major ad medium that will experience annual spending increases so high.

“With multiple ways to go online and with more activities once they get there, people spend more time online,” said Hallerman. “Simply put, marketers increasingly know that to reach their target audience, they need to advertise more online.”

Online advertising is recovering more rapidly than the overall economy, as evidenced by online’s gain in share of GDP. Internet ad spending’s contribution to the GDP increased by 10% or more every quarter from Q3 2003 through Q1 2008. Then came the recession, and both online ad spending and the national GDP declined. However, in Q3 2010, online ad spending’s share of the GDP rose by 11.66% year over year.

By contrast, total media ad spending is less robust. Ad dollars toward all major media will increase by only small amounts from 2010 through 2014, with an average annual growth rate of 2.9%.

Source:  eMarketer

The brand spent $34.8 million in advertising throughout 2009, according to Kantar Media – and the marketing is apparently paying off: by the end of 2010, Snuggie will have sold 25 million units, reports The New York Times.

In 2008, when Snuggie was first launched, it sold about four million units. But instead of dying out after its initial launch, as many popular as-seen-on-TV items do, the blanket only picked up steam. With its campy infomercial ads that were the basis of jokes by Jay Leno and other TV personalities, the product went viral online. Now there are 15 styles of Snuggie, and rather than being sold exclusively through an 800 number, about 95% of Snuggies are now sold in brick-and-mortar stores.

A key to the success of the brand was that the company did not get touchy when it became widely ridiculed, says Thomas Haire, editor of trade publication Response Magazine. “They were able to laugh at themselves, and I think the American consumer sensed they were in on the joke, too.”

As-seen-on-TV items, touted in sometimes oddly compelling ads, can be popular products – but just 12% of consumers are willing to purchase items from TV, according to Samir Kulkarni, owner of Showcase, the world’s largest chain of as-seen-on-TV products. Showcase stores can be found in 61 major shopping malls across Canada, and plans to grow to 100 outlets in the next two years, writes CBS News. “Through TV alone, the advertisers cannot capture the entire market,” Kulkarni says.

Last December, Showcase sold one Snuggie every 13 seconds, and people were lining up outside the stores to purchase the quirky blanket. The retailer does about 25% of its annual sales in the month of December.

Source:  mediabuyerplanner.com

Television time-shifted viewing is growing this season — for almost all shows.

NBC’s “The Office” is the most time-shifted program; in terms of its overall percentage, it grabbed 38.8% more viewers — up to seven days of time-shifting. Overall, NBC comedy was also first in 2009, with 37.5% compared to 29.0% in 2008.

In terms of actual time-shifted viewers, ABC’s “Modern Family” had the highest number with 5.465 million; ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” was next at 5.067 million. Both shows topped last year’s number for ABC’s “House,” at 5.038 million.

Among first-year shows, NBC’s “The Event” was best in time-shifting — in terms of percentage — 34% or 3.083 million viewers. CBS’ “Hawaii 5-0″ had the most time-shifted viewers overall for a new show — 3.976 million — accounting for 27.1% of its total seven days audience.

One of the biggest upward movers was ABC’s “Modern Family,” which doubled its time-shifted viewership to 5.465 million in 2010, from 2.613 million in 2009. Fox’s “Glee” also climbed high — to 4.8 million from 2.969 million. And CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother” doubled its time-shifted viewers over the last two years.

What Do We Know About DVR Homes?

•          DVR homes tend to be younger; more upscale BUT more than 38% of DVR users are over age 45

•          Very highly concentrated in digital homes

•          DVR ownership stands at 38% of all US TV Households

•          More Co-Viewing occurs in playback than in live

•          When DVR playback is included, DVR households watch more primetime programming than non-DVR households

•          DVR playback peaks at 9pm and 10pm

•          The majority (71%) of DVR homes have only one unit, a quarter (24%) of DVR homes have two, and 5% have three or more

•          DVR penetration by Race/Ethnicity – (40.3% White, 35.4% Asian, 30.3% African-American, 29.8% Hispanic)

•          Top ranked time-shifted genre is Science Fiction followed by Sitcoms and General Drama

In 2010, both search and display will see increases greater than the rise in total US online ad spending, estimated by eMarketer at 13.9%. But between 2011 and 2014, eMarketer projects online display spending will grow faster than overall online spending, while search spending will lag slightly behind.

The increase in display advertising will be driven partly by the dramatic rise predicted in online video advertising, set to grow by at least 34% every year through 2014. Banner ads will experience more moderate gains of between 7% and 16.2% annually, while rich media spending will stagnate.

In 2010, eMarketer estimates US advertisers will spend $12.37 billion on paid search, compared with $8.88 billion on online display ads. Search will still get the most dollars in 2014, at $18.84 billion, but display will have closed the gap somewhat and reach $15.92 billion in spending that year.

“The growth of display doesn’t necessarily mean that advertisers are spending less on search,” said David Hallerman, eMarketer principal analyst. “Much of the display ad spending gains are new dollars coming online—which is part of a bigger trend towards more spending on branding, rather than spending focused on direct response alone.”

Display ads like static banners have a bad reputation for low clickthrough rates but still serve an important branding purpose. “Banner ads today mainly have subliminal effects on the audience,” said Hallerman. “That makes banners difficult to measure directly. However, the uptick in search results due to banners from the same advertiser is a long-standing pattern seen by sophisticated digital marketers.”

Source:  eMarketer

My Two Cents

I agree that much of the display ad spending gains are new dollars coming online but you must also note that display advertising also carries a higher price tag than search advertising.  Especially video or rich media advertising.

With rich media you also have to pay a third party to serve the ads which increases your overall cost.  Not to mention additional costs incurred on the production side of it. I am a firm believer in running parallel display and search campaigns to maximize your overall web exposure to convert a higher ROI.

The top networks are averaging a 13.6 in 18-49s on Thursdays, down 17% from a 16.4 rating in the first seven weeks of last season. On Sunday, the Big 4 average a 17.0 (down a hair from a 17.2 last season, collectively; NBC is up 24% on that night). Mondays are averaging a 14.3, down from last year’s average of 15.5.

ABC’s Particular Struggles

ABC is having a particularly tough time on Thursdays, and is down 35% while it struggles to find an 8pm show that works. Its first try, My Generation, lasted just two weeks.

But despite its challenges, ABC has won on Thursday nights seven weeks in a row. Last week, Grey’s Anatomy was tops in the 9pm hour in 18-49s, giving it status as the No. 1 series in the slot for the 7th week in a row. The show topped second-place CSI (on CBS) by 30%, NBC’s comedies (The Office/Outsourced) by 34%, and Fox’s Fringe by 139%, according to TV by the Numbers.

CBS is down just 7% for the night, thanks in large part to its popular The Big Bang Theory which was moved from Monday to Thursday. CBS also has a strong Monday lineup with popular shows like How I Met Your Mother, Rules of Engagement and Two and a Half Men as well as new shows Mike & Molly and Hawaii Five-O.

1.  Renewed emphasis on prevention will drive consumers to think defensively. In the UK, 43% of consumers say “trying to add to my rainy day savings/emergency fund” is a priority for this year, up 15% from last year. In the US, a third of consumers say they’re using debit rather than credit, and debit transactions are forecasted to rise nearly 60% between 2000 and 2010. Consumers want to know what they’re getting themselves into. So, 2011 may see the need for brands to demonstrate how a product or service delivers long term benefits or prevents problems down the road.

2. For brick and mortar retailers, discounting is a no-win battle against the internet. In the US, 35% of consumers say their choice of store is determined by special offers or discounts. In 2011, brands need to offer more than just retail, and be a venue, not just a shop. Exclusivity and environment may be key aspects to engage consumers with real life, not virtual, shopping experiences.

3.  With smartphones becoming the dominant mobile force, Quick Response and app technology will provide portals into unique experiences and improve our quality of life. In the US, sales of smartphones grew 82% from 2008 to 2010. As consumers are empowered, 2011 will see people take a deeper interest in where they are. Geography and status can be redefined through retail, presenting brands with an opportunity for increased location based services, promotions and solutions.

4.  Economic uncertainty has changed the workplace and the meaning of job security for the foreseeable future. As a result consumers will continue to question higher education’s ROI and alternative channels for learning will gain credibility. In 2011 we may see more lifelong learning in the workplace, corporate sponsored degrees and companies investing in employees through education and training rather than salary or benefits. And, learning while doing, rather than learning in a lecture hall, with DIY education gaining steam.

5.  Women are earning and learning more than men, creating new gender roles in business and consumerism. In 2011, age is no longer an easy marker for lifestage. 2011 may see a counter trend to the ‘metrosexuality’ of men in a ‘masculinization’ of women. Implications for how brands market to women will be big, especially in sectors such as automobiles and sports. With men helping around the house more than ever, there may be an opportunity for brands to cater household products, as well as retail experiences. In the US in 2008, 27% of men reported being the sole cleaner in their household; in 2010, that number jumped to 32%.

6.  People are working beyond retirement. With half of Americans having no retirement account, the number of over 65s working will reach nearly 20% by 2014. In the UK, 77% of over 55s plan to continue working after retirement age “in order to enjoy and prolong a better standard of living.” In 2011, this group may prove an untapped market, affecting a number of consumer sectors. Vitality, energy and longevity will become key product qualities in the food and drink sector, while health and beauty messages may need to center on anti-aging properties.

7. Attitude toward weight is polarizing, pitting the rise of the super-healthy against the eternal appeal of indulgence. In the UK, almost a quarter of women wear clothes in sizes 18 and over, more than 30% of UK children are now classed as overweight, and 34% of US adults age 20 and over are obese. 2011 may see a wider array of products from portion control and more info on packaging to low-cost healthy fare and products to firm and salve chaffed or sagging skin.

8.  Modern city dwellers have a growing love of gardening and a need for nature and with fresh, organic produce. In the US, 26% of internet users purchased vegetable seeds in past year, 19% bought vegetable/flower garden fertilizer and 27% said they like to grow vegetables at home. In the US, 40% of people with a garden agree “growing fresh food to cook with” is important. In 2011, rural tourism, working farm holidays and garden leisure may benefit, while rising food and commodity prices may see a boost for seed sales as this trend develops.

9.  In an ever more digital era, automated technology machines are replacing people, creeping into new territories, including hospitals, libraries, pharmacies and the home. 2011 may see certain jobs permanently displaced by technology, including service jobs, not just manual or factory work.

Source:  Research Brief From The Center For Media Research

I was struck by the fact that at least six of the technologies have already, or will, impact brand strategy and communications planning. Many of these are already being employed at some level.

Listed below are the six technologies with a brief explanation taken from the Gartner press release.

Mobile Applications and Media Tablets

Gartner estimates that by the end of 2010, 1.2 billion people will carry handsets capable of rich, mobile commerce providing an ideal environment for the convergence of mobility and the Web. Mobile devices are becoming computers in their own right, with an astounding amount of processing ability and bandwidth. There are already hundreds of thousands of applications for platforms like the Apple iPhone, in spite of the limited market (only for the one platform) and need for unique coding.

The quality of the experience of applications on these devices, which can apply location, motion and other context in their behavior, is leading customers to interact with companies preferentially through mobile devices. This has lead to a race to push out applications as a competitive tool to improve relationships and gain advantage over competitors whose interfaces are purely browser-based.

Social Communications and Collaboration

Social media can be divided into:

1. Social networking —social profile management products, such as MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and Friendster as well as social networking analysis (SNA) technologies that employ algorithms to understand and utilize human relationships for the discovery of people and expertise.
2. Social collaboration —technologies, such as wikis, blogs, instant messaging, collaborative office, and crowdsourcing.
3. Social publishing —technologies that assist communities in pooling individual content into a usable and community accessible content repository such as YouTube and flickr.
4. Social feedback – gaining feedback and opinion from the community on specific items as witnessed on YouTube, flickr, Digg, Del.icio.us, and Amazon.

Gartner predicts that by 2016, social technologies will be integrated with most business applications. Companies should bring together their social CRM, internal communications and collaboration, and public social site initiatives into a coordinated strategy.

Video

This is not a new media form, but its use as a standard media type used in non-media companies is expanding rapidly. Technology trends in digital photography, consumer electronics, the web, social software, unified communications, digital and Internet-based television and mobile computing are all reaching critical tipping points that bring video into the mainstream.

Over the next three years Gartner believes that video will become a commonplace content type and interaction model for most users, and by 2013, more than 25 percent of the content that workers see in a day will be dominated by pictures, video or audio.

Next Generation Analytics

Increasing compute capabilities of computers including mobile devices along with improving connectivity are enabling a shift in how businesses support operational decisions. It is becoming possible to run simulations or models to predict the future outcome, rather than to simply provide backward looking data about past interactions, and to do these predictions in real-time to support each individual business action.

Social Analytics

Social analytics describes the process of measuring, analyzing and interpreting the results of interactions and associations among people, topics and ideas. These interactions may occur on social software applications used in the workplace, in internally or externally facing communities or on the social web.

Social analytics is an umbrella term that includes a number of specialized analysis techniques such as social filtering, social-network analysis, sentiment analysis and social-media analytics. Social network analysis tools are useful for examining social structure and interdependencies as well as the work patterns of individuals, groups or organizations. Social network analysis involves collecting data from multiple sources, identifying relationships, and evaluating the impact, quality or effectiveness of a relationship.

Context-Aware Computing

Context-aware computing centers on the concept of using information about an end user or object’s environment, activities connections and preferences to improve the quality of interaction with that end user. The end user may be a customer, business partner or employee.

The other strategic technologies are cloud computing, storage-class memory, ubiquitous computing and fabric-based infrastructure and computers.

Are you using these technologies to your advantage?

On the other hand, 56% of social and 60% of mobile users are more likely to search with specific businesses in mind because they are already outside the home looking for a nearby business to fill a need. The study points to a lack of sophisticated search functions in social networks for the differences.

Search engine queries continued to increase at a strong rate with 9% year-over-year growth. Non-search engine queries such as Facebook and craigslist rose 22%, off a smaller base, to capture more than one-third of total query volume. This also impacts local. Of the 9% of local business searchers who use social networks, 93% said they use Facebook to find information on local business.

Most research today focuses on where searches happen, but this study looks at where sales occur. Google, Bing, Facebook and Twitter are just a sample of the major players to enhance local search features in the past year. It also examines how to make sense of consumers’ changing behaviors across various media types, and what impact search trends have on the bottom line.

Trend 1: Online search is the preferred method for information about local businesses, with 70% of consumers citing online sites as their primary source.

Trend 2: Search engines are most popular, but they are not growing as fast as other media.

Trend 3: Local searchers are more apt to buy.

Trend 4: Businesses must develop a comprehensive search presence with essential information.

Trend 5: To develop a complete search presence, local businesses must consider every avenue.

Trend 6: Print is declining, but it still holds value for today’s consumers as a secondary source.

Trend 7: With emerging media on the rise, a diverse media mix must now include social and mobile marketing.

Consumers who use social networks and mobile smartphones are more likely to use and write reviews. More than 40% have submitted between two and five reviews in the past 30 days. In fact, 78% of social networkers — up 3% from the prior year — and 71% of mobile users — up 9% from the prior year — consider consumer ratings and reviews important in making their purchase selections.

Of those participating in the survey, 81% believe it’s important for local businesses to respond to questions and complaints on social sites; 78% want special offers, promotions and information about events; and 66% believe that company photos are important.

Source:  MediaPost

Marketers can place overlays in spots that prompt viewers to click-through and request a coupon or sample. Cablevision’s AMC and Comcast’s E! and Style are teed up to run the spots now, while the Discovery Channel and two NBC Universal cable channels are anticipated to be ready by year’s-end.

Canoe Ventures’ ITV Solutions allow programmers to better engage with their viewers through innovative marketing applications.

So far, the “request-for-information” spots can only be delivered into some homes served by Time Warner Cable and Comcast. Verklin would not release the number, but it is likely no more than 15 million. Next year, Canoe aims to be able to stream spots into households served by TWC, Comcast, Cox, Cablevision, Charter and Bright House — all part owners of Canoe.

Networks license the technology and then sell it to advertisers. Canoe then shares in the proceeds of a deal.

Canoe has data showing that the simple appearance of an overlay on screen during an ad raises brand recall — even if a viewer takes no action. “There’s value to an unclicked banner”.

But could the triggers and prompts cause a backlash? Since few ads have them it’s unlikely but if this concept hits the mainstream then I think it will definitely cause some issues with viewers.  Only time will tell.

Mobile Bar Codes Coming to Your TV

Bar codes have been seen flashing on TV screens across the country allowing you to scan them with your smartphone and get instant information.

The process works like this: bar codes are embedded in commercials that appear on the screen. Then a viewer with a smartphone scans them and gets access to more information about a product, which could also include a discounted price.

These mobile bar codes are known as QR Codes, for “quick response.”

QR Codes, already widely used in Europe and Asia, allow advertisers to place bar codes on posters, product packaging and TV commericals and turn these objects into links to online content.

Using bar codes is starting to spread, because more people are using smartphones, and many of those phones have the scanning application to read the codes.

The Weather Channel and HBO also have tested the technology.

Still, there are challenges for TV advertising, such as time constraints. But other observers see bar code technology as a major advertising tool of the future.

Fall Season is Strong

One factor which could help ad rates to continue to increase is the fact that the fall TV season is off to a strong beginning. NBC, for example, enjoyed its most successful series launch in three years with The Event, while ABC’s Dancing with the Stars launched with tremendous numbers (an average of 21.3 million viewers) and CBS had a strong start for Hawaii Five-0 and Survivor.

CBS’s freshman Mike & Molly was strong, as well, and $#*! My Dad Says performed even better. This one surprised me a bit.  I was not impressed with $#*! My Dad Says but I did however enjoy Mike & Molly. Cute show!

Fox, typically one of the strongest nets, is the most challenged in terms of the new fall season, with critically acclaimed Lone Star floundering with so few viewers that rumors have it the show may be canceled after just a couple of outings. Doc drama House debuted the season to lower-than-expected numbers.

But Fox isn’t the only network with challenges. ABC’s The Whole Truth on Wednesday had a low premiere with a 1.5 in 18-49s, and Thursday’s My Generation did only slightly better (1.6). NBC’s Outlaw sank to a 1.1 with its first Friday episode, and The Apprentice bowed to a 1.5 the week before premiere week and sank to a 1.4 last week.

Comedies

The new season’s numbers to date indicate that comedies are once again what people want to watch. Of the 7 highest-rated premieres, 5 were comedies, including Fox’s Glee (up 60%), ABC’s Modern Family (up 21%), The Office (up 7%), CBS’s The Big Bang Theory (up 4%) and Two and a Half Men (up 10%).

I personally love all of these shows except I feel like the Office is loosing steam. Hasn’t been as funny the past few years. It will also be interesting to see how well The Big Bang Theory does on a new night.

I must also give a shameless plug for the Amazing Race on CBS. A good friend of mine is one of the contestants. She is a doctor on the Nat & Kat team. You go ladies!

What are your favorite shows on TV right now?

You’re not put together
It is one thing to be a reputable and wise company blessed with many years of success. However, it’s quite another to have a site that looks old, washed up, and like it was designed and launched in 1997. No matter the product, service, or content displayed, if it looks dated, you can bet users will take one look and walk (click) away.

So how do you know if a face-lift is a must? Check your measurements. Your average number of page views, average time spent on site, and task completion rate, that is. What’s needed to look sophisticated and innovative? A harmonious design. Your site needs to be balanced appropriately, ensuring content, white space, and images complement one another to create perfect equilibrium and cater to the expectations of your audience. Make sure the look and feel of your site is inviting, trustworthy, and current, and your prospects will be seeing you as the complete package in no time.

Reason 2

You’re just looks
To turn a visitor into a prospect, you need to create a truly beautiful web experience that pays as much attention to the perceived credibility of your site as it does to the usability and function of your design.

Pages that require users to scroll more than two screen lengths are asking for a considerable amount of engagement. So if it’s a must for your site, make sure that you’re paying close attention to the structure of those pages. Is there a logical order to the content being displayed that will encourage the visitor to scroll? Are you balancing an appropriate amount of white space and imagery with text so that the page doesn’t seem overwhelming? Navigation also plays a crucial role. Remember that your website should be designed for your users. Be sure your site carries them logically and intuitively through the information on your site that they’re there to find.

Reason 3

You’re socially inept
No one wants to date someone who is socially awkward or appears to be a loner. Letting your social status shine on your website will increase your chances of building more than just your social circle. It will increase your opportunities for business growth as well. It’s not about “going social” because everyone’s doing it — it’s about being where your clients and prospects are. So be sure to prominently link to your social properties from your site if you’d like to cash in on the channel that is changing the way the world communicates.

Reason 4

You’re too closed off
Have trouble opening up and explaining who you really are? It sounds simple, but it’s absolutely vital. If people have trouble finding the essentials on your site, they’re bound to dump it for one that meets their standards and provides what they’re looking for. Ditch the industry jargon and wordy explanations of what your business does and cut to the chase. And again, remember who you’re designing your website for. Consider what it is that they’re hoping to find first. Then, frame the design of your website around your prospects desired action paths.

Reason 5

You’re not dependable
In August 2010, Firefox held 45.8 percent of the browser market, followed closely by Internet Explorer with 30.7 percent, Chrome with 17 percent, Safari with 3.5 percent, and Opera with 2.3 percent. If you aren’t testing the design and functionality of your site across multiple browsers, you’re losing business.

The same rule applies for screen resolution. While 76 percent of users are now browsing the web on a machine that has a resolution higher than 1024×768, pay close attention to the content that user might not be seeing if they’re browsing at a lower resolution.

How dependable is your web hosting service? Does it provide advanced features and truly support your website? If your host isn’t aiding your professional image, it’s definitely time to look for a new provider — one that will ensure your needs and encourage your company’s growth. What two characteristics should you look for in a web hosting company? Security (virus-free systems) and reputation (current and past clients). An inconsistent web host can make any website appear faulty.

Just like dating expectations, realizing the necessities for a well-rounded site can definitely seem overwhelming. Relax, and don’t become intimidated. The initial step for ensuring your site is a winner is to take a step back and look in the mirror (your site). Make sure you critique every angle of your site and be sure to ask yourself valid questions. Are you satisfied with your presence? Is information clearly displayed? Are you having trouble navigating and finding paths to conversions? If you aren’t impressed with you site, then you can bet visitors aren’t either. And remember — disappointing websites and dates often don’t receive second chances.

Source:  iMediaConnection

By Lisa Wehr September 27, 2010

Experts are projecting that prices are running at about $3 million for a :30 spot.

Strong NFL Season So Far

If early ratings are any indication of things to come, the Super Bowl has a chance of once again seeing record viewers. Last Thursday’s season opener was the best-ever kickoff for the NFL, and ESPN’s airing of Monday Night Football also broke records. That show was up 7% over last year in 18-49s, averaged a 10.5 rating, and was the best opening night for Monday Night Football since the game moved from broadcast to cable four years ago.

Ads for last February’s game averaged about $2.8 million for a :30 spot, though some ads brought in as much as $3 million.

I don’t know about you but I couldn’t imagine spending $3 million dollars on ONE :30 sec spot.  Many marketers don’t even reach spending $1 million dollars over the course of an entire year.

On a pure TV-impression alone, one can argue that the Super Bowl has become such an unusual magnet for consumer attention and recall.  Marketers must reach beyond the TV across multiple platforms to engage with their customers.

It’s just not as simple as “buying” high-reach media.  The audience nowadays is much more fragmented than ever making them harder to reach.

What do you think?  Is a $3 million dollar spot in the Super Bowl worth it?

Not everything we see is a bed of roses however. With the old auto complete technology Google would provide the user with potential search queries based on the terms typed into the search box. This alone would drive the user to perform a specific search. With this new instant technique, we are allowing Google to provide even more direction into how we search for what we want. The risk here is we are allowing Google to make decisions for us regarding how we articulate our thought processes.

While this new search process may benefit users, what does it ultimately mean for marketers?

Google will now consider any search result that remains presented on the screen for three or more seconds an impression. This could ultimately result in a lower click through rate for search results. If users take a longer time to search due to slow typing or pause during their search to respond to another immediate need they may trigger two or more impressions when unintended.

This new search may also increase the number of long tail searches and reduce those for basic terms such as “car repair”.  If a user searches for this term they are immediately provided with search options relevant to the users physical location. This will ultimately reduce the number of searches for the primary term and therefore make local or long tail keywords that much more important.

Another important note is the visibility of brands in this new search. If you type the letter “e” in the search box your suggestions will be eBay, ESPN, Expedia and Eminem. This could make it tougher for smaller brands to achieve the same suggestion level as national brands.

It will be very interesting to see how this new search plays out for both users and marketers. One thing can be assured in that the results we see today will not be what we see in the future. We must remain vigilant and modify our thinking and processes to ensure our campaigns and tactics are the most effective they can be even in the turbulent tides of search engine marketing and optimization.

That number will reach $214.3 billion next year, and by 2019, ad spending will total $275.8 billion, according to SNL Kagan.

Mobile, broadcast TV and the internet will see the biggest jumps in ad spending, while newspapers and business pubs will fall.

Newspaper ad spending plunged 29% in the second quarter of 2009, followed by a 27.9% drop in Q3 and a 23.7% drop in Q4. The newspaper ad decline slowed in the second quarter of 2010, though ad spending still fell 5.6%, according to the Newspaper Association of America.

Though ad losses are narrowing, newspapers are still struggling with significantly reduced ad revenue. In fact, the Q2 ad revenue of $6.44 billion is the lowest second-quarter total since the pre-internet year of 1985.

Internet ad spending will climb sharply, reaching an estimated $27.8 billion in 2011 (up from $4.7 billion in 1999) and more than double that – $60 billion – by 2019.

Cable TV will continue to stay strong, growing to $30.2 billion in 2011, up from $12 billion in 1999. Spending will reach $55.1 billion in 2019.

Dollars are shifting into new platforms. New media, such as mobile and internet advertising, continue to boom, while old media, particularly print, is increasingly losing its relevance.

Source:  MediaBuyerPlanner

Still, the uncertain economy does pose complex challenges for retailers’ holiday season preparations. How they manage inventory will be a critical success factor, so smart retailers are working more closely with supply-channel partners to deal with different consumer-demand scenarios.

The same bargain-hunting attitude adopted during the past two holiday seasons is likely to define shopping behavior again this year. Consumers will go online to find coupons, compare prices on shopping engines and research items, even if they plan to buy them in-store.

Savvy consumers, knowing that retailers are posting some of their best Black Friday deals online, will shop the web on Black Friday from the comfort of their homes rather than rise early to face crowded stores. Those who do head to stores are likely to take their smartphones with them to compare other retailers’ prices for items of interest.

There are still many preparatory steps online retailers can take in the weeks leading up to the holiday shopping season. For example, they should stay up to date on the many changes taking place with search engines like Google and Bing and explore the best ways to capitalize on them. They can test their website performance for the large traffic volumes expected. They can set up gift centers to stimulate purchase ideas. And they can develop new email marketing strategies by analyzing purchase behavior from the past few holiday seasons.

Source:  eMarketer

One big win which has generated plenty of buzz for the network is Jersey Shore, which is now in its second season. The show launched season two on July 29 to 5.3 million viewers, almost quadruple the number that watched the season one premiere. And it is continuing to pull more than 5 million viewers a week. In fact, the show is nabbing the biggest ratings the network has seen in seven years.

I remember the good ole days when MTV used to play actual music videos.  Now it’s all reality television crap.

The 411 On Jersey Shore

Reality television series that follows eight housemates spending their summer on the Jersey Shore & Miami Beach. The show debuted amid large amounts of controversy regarding the use of the words “Guido/Guidette”, portrayals of Italian-American stereotypes and scrutiny from locals because the cast members were not residents of the area.

Prior to the series debut, UNICO National (which is the largest Italian American organization) formally requested that MTV cancel the show. In a letter to the network, UNICO called the show a “…direct, deliberate and disgraceful attack on Italian Americans…”.

MTV responded to the controversy by issuing a press release which stated in part, “the Italian-American cast takes pride in their ethnicity. We understand that this show is not intended for every audience and depicts just one aspect of youth culture.” Since the calls for the show’s removal, several sponsors have requested that their ads not be aired during the show. These sponsors included Dell, Domino’s and American Family Insurance. Despite the loss of certain advertisers, MTV has not canceled the show. Moreover, the show has seen its audience and ad revenue increase.

Ratings Up 22%, Ad Revenue Up 4%

Since July, MTV’s ratings have jumped 22% among its core demographic, viewers aged 12-34. In the second quarter of 2010, Viacom’s advertising revenue rose 4% compared to last year, for the second straight quarter of positive growth. Viacom expects that number to continue to rise.

Four “Jersey Shore” stars have gotten huge raises to return for next season. Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, Paul “Pauly D” DelVecchio and Jennni “JWOWW” Farley will each earn about $30,000 per episode next season for MTV’s biggest show since “The Osbournes.” This does not take into account outside sponsorship deals either.  The show’s success now earns Pauly up to $80,000 a week for his DJ work while Snooki earns up to $20,000 for a personal appearance and The Situation has a profitable line of “pre-workout” vitamins.

A Short Lesson In Jersey Shore Vocabulary

Grenade (adj): A word used to describe the ugly friend.

Landmines (n): Thin ugly girls.

G.F.F (n): “Grenade Free Foundation.” Promoted by “MVP”

MVP (n): Mike, Vinny, Pauly.

GTL (n,v): Gym, Tan, Laundry; how they make the guidos.

Juice Head (n): Someone, usually a hot, tan, male, who may or may not steroids in order to gain muscle mass, see “Juiced.”

Confession

I can’t in good faith write this post without coming clean. This train wreck of a show has sucked me in. It’s like crack! It’s so bad for you but once you try it you’re hooked. I actually feel dumber from having watched the show. I know it’s wrong but I can’t stop. HELP!

According to a report by veteran media analyst Steve Sternberg for Baseline Inc., CBS’s median age last season was 55 (up from 45 in 1991), ABC’s was at 51 (up from 37), NBC’s was 49 (up from 42) and Fox’s stood at 44 (up from 29).

Note, for example, that Two and a Half Men is an aging show, with the median age of viewers at 50.  Meanwhile, Dancing with the Stars, another hit, remains on the air with a median audience age of 60.

Alan Wurtzel of NBC points out that there are more older viewers available – the American population’s median age jumped from 33 in 1990 to 38 last year, according to the Census Bureau – and that advertisers have begun to recognize that older viewers have money and are receptive to advertising.  Fox’s Glee has a median age of 38 and CBS’s The Good Wife and the NCIS franchise skew the oldest at 58 and 57 respectively.

Boomers

TV dominates with Boomers.  Boomers specifically watch about 9  hours of video daily.  Boomers are responsible for one-third of television viewers, online/social media users and Twitter users.

A gag Web site called “Please Rob Me” raised the obvious truth about location-based mobile social networking: When you tell the public where you are, you’re also telling burglars you’re not at home.

Insurance industry watchers predict that after customers get burglarized and file claims on stolen property, the insurance companies will probably investigate to see whether the customer broadcast information over social networks in a way that constitutes “negligence.” They could also make “social networker” the homeowners insurance equivalent of “chain smoker” in health insurance — a category of customers who are charged higher premiums.

TIPS

• Only use location-based services when you need them. Sites like Foursquare may be fun, but letting everyone know your routines could spell bad news for your home security.
• Don’t post your address anywhere. This should be a given!
• Don’t tweet about vacations, unless you have a house sitter.
• Think before you tweet! Something as simple as tweeting about your meal while out to dinner could tip someone off that you’re away from home.
• Don’t friend anyone you don’t know on a location-based app or service. Yes, Twitter may be all about the numbers, but you don’t want someone knowing where you are all the time because you friended them.

I have to admit that I use all of these services mentioned above and I never thought that this could impact my home insurance rates.  I will continue to use these services but I must admit that I will exercise greater caution now.

With all of the good in the world we must remember that there is unfortunately the bad as well.

Findings from a new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project report that adults are just as likely as teens to have texted while driving and are substantially more likely to have talked on the phone while driving. In addition, 49% of adults say they have been passengers in a car when the driver was sending or reading text messages on their cell phone.

Overall, 44% of adults say they have been passengers of drivers who used the cell phone in a way that put themselves or others in danger. Beyond driving, some cell-toting pedestrians get so distracted while talking or texting that they have physically bumped into another person or an object.

According to Pew, 82% of American adults (those age 18 and older) now own cell phones, up from 65% from the first reading in late 2004. 58% of adults now send or receive text messages with their cell phones. By comparison, a September 2009 Pew Internet survey found that 75% of all American teens ages 12-17 own a cell phone, and 66% text.

According to research from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2008 alone, there were 5,870 fatalities and an estimated 515,000 people were injured in police-reported crashes in which at least one form of driver distraction was reported.

Some of the key findings from the survey include:

• 47% of all texting adults say they have sent or read a text message while driving. That compares to 34% of texting teens ages 16-17 who said they had “texted while driving” in a September 2009 survey
• This means that 27% of all American adults say they have sent or read text messages while driving, compared to 26% of all American teens ages 16-17 who reported texting at the wheel in 2009
• 75% of all cell-owning adults say they have talked on a cell phone while driving. 52% of cell-owning teens ages 16-17 reported talking on a cell phone while driving in the 2009 survey
• Among all adults, that translates into 61% who have talked on a cell phone while driving, which compares to 43% of all American teens ages 16-17 who said they had talked on their phones while driving in the 2009 survey
• 49% of all adults say they have been in a car when the driver was sending or reading text messages on their cell phone. The same number of all teens ages 12-17 said they had been in a car “when the driver was texting.”
• 44% of all adults say they have been in a car when the driver used the cell phone in a way that put themselves or others in danger, compared to 40% of teens who said they had been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a dangerous way.
• 17% of cell-owning adults say they have physically bumped into another person or an object because they were distracted by talking or texting on their phone. That’s 14% of all American adults who have been so engrossed in talking, texting or otherwise using their cell phones that they bumped into something or someone.

More details from major findings include these notes…

47% of texting adults say they have sent or read a text message while driving:

•  Male texters are more likely to report texting at the wheel; 51% of men who use text messaging say they have sent or read messages while driving while 42% of women texters say the same
• Those in the Millennial generation (ages 18-33) are more likely than any other age group to report texting while driving. While 59% of texting Millennials say they have sent or read messages at the wheel, 50% of text-using Gen Xers (ages 34-45) and 29% of texting Baby Boomers (ages 46-64) report the same

75% of cell-owning adults say they have talked on a cell phone while driving:

• Men are more likely than women to report this distraction; 78% of cell-owning men say they have talked while driving, compared with 72% of cell-owning women
•  80% of cell-using Millennials say they have talked on their mobile phones while driving. However, Gen X stands out as the group most likely to chat at the wheel when compared with older generations. While 86% of Gen Xers who own cell phones talk while driving, just 73% of Boomer cell owners and 50% of those age 65 and older say they talk on their phones while at the wheel

49% of all adults say they have been in a car when the driver was sending or reading text messages on their cell phone:

• Men and women are equally as likely to say they have been in a car when the driver was texting. However, non-white American adults are more likely than whites to say they have been passengers of texting drivers. While 56% of black adults and 58% of Hispanic adults say they have been passengers of texting drivers, 46% of white adults report the same
• The likelihood that someone will be a passenger of a texting driver decreases dramatically with age. While one in three (75%) Millennials say they have been passengers in a car with a texting driver, 59% of Gen Xers, 37% of Boomers and just 18% of adults age 65 and older say they have had that experience
• Parents are considerably more likely than non-parents to say they have been passengers of distracted drivers; 58% all parents say they have been passengers when the driver was texting, compared with 45% of non-parents

44% of all adults say they have been in a car when the driver used the cell phone in a way that put themselves or others in danger:

•  Men are more likely than women to report being passengers of cell-distracted drivers (48% vs. 40%) 
•  Millennials and Gen X are about equally as likely to report being passengers of drivers who use the cell phone in a dangerous way (59% vs. 52%). However, both groups are considerably more likely than older generations to report this experience. Just 37% of Boomers say they have been passengers in a car while the driver used a cell phone in a dangerous way and only 21% of adults age 65 and older say they have had that experience

The physically-distracted crowd is also slightly more urban and well-educated than others. Cell owners who live in cities are more likely than rural residents to bump into other people and things (20% vs. 13%). And cell owners with college degrees are more likely than those with high school diplomas to be looking at their screens when they should be looking at their surroundings (20% vs. 14%).

The findings for those ages 18 and older come from a nationwide phone survey of 2,252 American adults conducted between April 29 and May 30. 1,917 were cell owners and 1,189 used text messaging. The margin of error in the full sample is two percentage points and in the cell subpopulation is three percentage points.

Source:  Center for Media Research & Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project

Is Foursquare too early?

In a study out today, Forrester finds that only 4% of U.S. online adults have ever used location-based mobile apps such as Foursquare.  This small number is not appealing from a major marketer’s perspective due to the potential (or lack of) audience size.

Only 1% update these services more than once per week. What’s more, 84% of respondents said they are not familiar with such apps, leaving the vast majority of Americans online still in the dark about location-based apps, which have had the marketing world obsessing over them in recent months.

Who uses Foursquare?

Almost 80% of location-based service users are male. Close to 70% of them are between the ages of 19 and 35, and 70% have college degrees or higher.

This small audience is still attractive to some marketers. Forrester recommends that gaming, consumer electronics and sportswear marketers lead the way with testing these apps. Location apps have already proved they’re not only for male-oriented brands. PepsiCo, Starbucks, Oil of Olay, Bravo and, most recently, Campbell’s Soup have all launched campaigns with location apps.

Insider Perspective

I currently use Foursquare in Omaha as well as through my travels and have found some (not many) “deals” to take advantage of.  The local Starbucks by my house offers discounts to Foursquare users checking in and if you are the Mayor of Starbucks you are often entitled to a free drink.

I think that Foursquare is great right now for small/local businesses.  For example, a bar called the Reel Martini in my neighborhood offers specials and discounts based on the number of times you check in.  First check in – Buy One, Get One.  Tenth check in – 10% off bar tab and if you are the Mayor you get 25% off your entire bill.  Also, if you check in on Wednesdays (slow night) you get 1/2 off martinis.  I think this is a great way to drive repeat traffic and traffic to your business during “slow” time periods.

My opinion is that this technology will take off in the next year.  I do however believe that this will be a fad and will not stick around long unless major advertisers get on board.  Many people are becoming more aware of this application but fail to see any real benefit from it.

For additional insight on Foursquare and how to use this technology please check out my past article “Do You Foursquare?”

Kimberly-Clark’s Faux-Jean Huggies are flying off the shelves at local retailers. Similarly, P&G is countering with a limited-edition fashion offering of its own this month, a series of 11 diaper styles from designer Cynthia Rowley called “Pampers by Cynthia Rowley Collection,” available exclusively at Target and Target.com.

The faux-denim diapers are selling well. The Little Movers franchise is up 15% post [denim] vs. prior period. According to a qualitative research study, with jeans diapers the simple insight is that moms simply love seeing their babies in jeans. Nearly 60% of moms purchase denim for their babies before they even reach 6 months of age.

I also love what WPP/JWT, New York has done with the tagline for the jeans diapers (tagline: “The coolest you’ll look pooping your pants”).   Too cute!

Adults 18-34 spend the most time on the site per week, at 8.5 hours out of 22.4 spent online.  Weekly Facebook time drops to 4.6 hours among users ages 55 and older, representing a lower proportion of that group’s average of 21.5 hours per week on the internet.

Facebook Highly Trafficked by Asians 

Facebook usage is heaviest by Asians. Not only did that group spend the most hours per week on the site, but they also devoted the greatest percentage of their weekly internet time to Facebook (39.6%, compared with 35.1% among blacks, the second-highest group).

Facebook Appeals to a Higher Income Bracket

Incomes also rose from less than $50,000 up to $100,000.  Affluent Facebook users making at least $100,000 annually spent the most time on the site and on the web as a whole.  In Q1 2010, comScore found that the visitors who spent the most time on Facebook also spent the most money online.

Source:  eMarketer

My Two Cents

Facebook advertising is very efficient and cost effective. It is just another touch point along the consumer path and a great way to connect with them.  Facebook is a great way to get out to the masses without the sticker shock.  Typically what I have seen with PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns on Facebook is that you often get way more impressions than you pay for. 

That is the beauty of PPC campaigns.  Millions of people may see your ad but you only pay if that person clicks on your ad and goes to your site.  Also with Facebook you can target based on age, gender, relationship status, likes & interest, education & work and connections on Facebook.   

So I am interested in running ads on Facebook.  How much budget should I set aside? 

I would recommend setting up a daily budget of $50 to start.  Remember that you only pay if someone clicks on your ad.  If your creative lacks an incentive to click then the chance of running through this budget is unlikely. Also keep in mind that Facebook uses an algorithm (just like PPC on Google) that ranks your ad in “popularity” and this has direct impact on positioning.  If your ad is performing well chances are you will find that ad at the top of the page. 

Even if you have a massive budget this doesn’t ensure that your ad will fall near the top.  The creative must be compelling and people must be clicking on your ad.  Also, more impressions will be served up if your ad is performing well.  Remember that Facebook only gets paid if someone clicks on your ad so of course they are going to run those top performing ads more. 

You can also pay-per-impression (CPM) if you would rather have the guarantee that your ad will run a certain number of impressions over the campaign’s flight.

Back in March, I weighed in on some things going on with the mobile device war that’s being waged between Apple and Google. The heat’s still on. Google posted yesterday that more than 160,000 new Android-powered devices are activated every day. More than two per second. That’s a lot. And nicely timed with that announcement, Google.

Here’s what is striking me now: How similar is this current situation to Apple vs. Microsoft in the early days of personal computers?

Hear me out.

Apple comes up with the Mac. It’s awesome. A mouse. All-in-one computer. Great interface. Easy to use. Kinda expensive. Can only be bought from Apple.

Microsoft’s OS can be installed on any compatible hardware. It’s relatively easy and open to program for. It’s not quite as nice, but it works. And you can buy it anywhere.

Flash forward. Apple’s phone is awesome. Incredible technological advances and a huge WANT factor. Must be bought from Apple and used on AT&T’s network. Google doesn’t have a phone, but it has an OS. It’s available on many different pieces of hardware from a variety of carriers.

The data shows that Android is making decent gains against the iPhone. Quantcast has a nice writeup about market share and the relative growth of the top mobile OS’s in the market. This chart is particularly interesting:

Granted, this shows mobile web consumption, but that’s a good (and easy to measure) indicator of how things are going.

I think it’s worth keeping an eye on this trend. Apple makes a nice big deal about what they are doing and they get a lot of press for it. They set the standard and they set it high. But Google does a lot of things very well, too. And at a certain point, what features are luxuries and which are necessities? A screen with a resolution higher than you can perceive is really cool (iPhone 4) but a nice large display in full color is still perfectly good when it’s a little handheld device.

Ultimately for consumers and marketers, though, who wins doesn’t matter as much. What really matters, and what we must pay attention to, is the accelerating adoption of mobile devices into the marketplace. People can get their data anywhere at any time. And it’s making a difference in personal communications and buying habits.

There are exciting days ahead!

Digital services continue to be the primary growth engine, but traditional revenue streams are expected to remain significantly larger throughout the forecast period.  Digital spending in the US is expected to account for 26% of all E&M spending in 2014, up from 19% in 2009.  

Overall US advertising is expected to increase at a 2.6 % CAGR from $159 billion in 2009 to $180 billion in 2014.  In the US, Internet advertising is expected to surpass newspaper advertising spend in 2010.  Advertising spending for Internet, television, radio, out-of-home, and video games are expected to be larger in 2014 than in 2009, while consumer magazines, newspapers, directories and trade magazines are expected to be smaller.

These projections reflect the market fragmentation and consumer behavioral changes. The advertising industry is responding to consumers’ shifting attention and migrating towards total marketing or total brand communication.  Brands are changing their focus from advertising on a medium, to marketing through, and with, content.  

Three themes that are expected to emerge from changing consumer behavior and the industry must anticipate and pre-empt the needs and wants of consumers.  

• Rising power of mobility and devices: Advances in technology are expected to see increasingly converged, multi-functional mobile devices come of age as a consumption platform by the end of 2011. By 2014, US mobile Internet access subscribers are projected to increase to 96.1 million, a 40% CAGR from 2009. 
• Growing dominance of Internet experience over all content consumption: Increasingly, the consumer has moved beyond thinking of the Internet as an end in itself, and expects all forms of media to embed the convenience, immediacy and interactivity of the Internet. People are already consuming magazines and newspapers on Internet-enabled tablets, and streaming personalized music services in preference to buying physical CDs.
• Increasing engagement and readiness to pay for content-driven by improved consumption experiences and convenience: Consumers are more willing to pay for content when accompanied by convenience and flexibility in usage, personalization and a differentiated experience that cannot be created elsewhere. Local relevance is also expected to enhance the content providers’ ability to charge.  

If engagement with consumers is the next wave of marketing, 10 companies are doing a particularly good job of it, according to brand and communications research agency Hall & Partners.

In conjunction with a new tool that measures consumer brand engagement on an emotional level, the Omnicom-owned company determined the 10 most engaging brands in the U.S.  The 10 most engaging brands are (in order): 1. EBay 2. Google 3. Amazon 4. Kraft Foods 5. Microsoft 6. Facebook 7. Coca-Cola 8. Pepsi 9. Yahoo 10. Dove

Coca-Cola and Pepsi have employed many marketing tactics over the years to build strong brand communities, using everything from experiential marketing to forays into social media.  And while Kraft may be initially surprising as a brand with high consumer engagement, the company’s recent efforts to broaden its image “beyond the refrigerator” — particularly with newer tactics.

Source:  MediaPost Communications

Nearly a quarter of households have smartphones, enabling consumers to “place shift” and watch video wherever they are.  Despite the common perception that viewers of videos on mobile phones are predominantly teens, more than half are adults aged 25-49. While mobile online video viewing is still fairly limited, year over year growth is notable at 51.2%

Video viewing across all major media platforms continues to be fueled in part by the adoption of technologies that improve the consumer experience whether it be quality or convenience. Penetration of HDTVs, DVRs, broadband and smartphones increased at double- or even triple-digit rates during the last two years.

• HDTV: More than half of US TV households now have a high-definition television and receive HD signals; between Q1 2008 and Q1 2010, HDTV penetration grew 189%

HDTV’s rapid growth is important for a number of reasons. First, high-definition raises the bar for programmers and advertisers and increases consumer experience expectations on other platforms. Second, HD sets still tend to be found disproportionately in high-income, highly educated households that are often characterized by lower viewing. HD-capable households actually watch 3% more primetime TV than  HD-non-capable households, which may help drive viewing among segments of audiences marketers find most important.

• DVR: More than a third of homes have a digital video recorder, up 51% from Q1 2008 to Q1 2010, making it possible for more viewers to watch TV programs on their own schedule

Timeshifting, including DVR and Video-On-Demand, is another technology which appears to be bolstering consumption. The timeshifting audience increased by 14%, to more than nine and a half hours per month. As timeshifting increases, the rate of commercial viewing during playback remains steady. On average, viewers watched 45% of commercials during timeshifted playback in Q1 2010 compared with 43% in Q1 2009. At the same time, the continued growth of timeshifting is creating more opportunities for viewers to catch missed programs or try new ones.

• Broadband: 63.5% of homes now have broadband Internet access, with high-speed connections that improve online video delivery

Beyond the TV, technology is helping drive video use on the “second” and “third” screens. The proliferation of broadband access is bolstering online video, creating an alternative mass outlet for distributing television content and “timeshifting” long-form TV.

• Smartphones: Nearly a quarter of households (up 38% year-over-year) have smartphones (mobile phones with advanced operating systems), making it easier for consumers to “place shift” and watch video wherever they are

Source:  Center for Media Research June 20^th

Once upon a time, MySpace was THE social networking site on the Internet.  Back in June of 2006, it was the most popular social networking site in the United States.  In April of 2008 however it was overtaken by its competitor, Facebook. 

There has been an interesting shift in who uses the sites. MySpace began with a big preference for teenagers whereas Facebook was designed specifically for college students.  As the two sites have grown up, their users have changed.  These days teens, professionals, moms, dads, grandparents, etc. all make up online communities. 

MySpace has a lot riding on the relaunch and branding campaign especially with the fierce competition of Facebook & Twitter.  

I have to believe that the days of MySpace are numbered.  The cool kids have  jumped ship and established new homes elsewhere leaving MySpace a virtual wasteland.  

The social networking site has simply run its course with the overwhelming majority.  Where MySpace might be able to shine is with music and this niche audience but will this be enough I don’t know.  Facebook does not have a music player or the customizable layout options that MySpace does prompting many music enthuasists to travel to MySpace. 

For me there are two paths that MySpace can take: Integrate into TV and mobile devices or fade into irrelevance like Friendster.

R.I.P Friendster

Foursquare is dealing with a landslide of queries from business owners and marketing agencies that want a piece of the fast-growing service. It has already developed integrations with a range of brand advertisers in various verticals, including Starbucks for retail, Bravo in entertainment, Pepsi in packaged goods, and Bing for technology and online services.

What is Foursquare?

Foursquare is a service that helps find where your friends are hanging out and offers tips from other users on what to do once you get there. You use your phone to “check in” at different places you visit, from bars and restaurants to parks, museums and even the grocery store! Foursquare rewards you for checking in with badges, points and mayorships.

Foursquare is just one of a number of new mobile social networks — Gowalla, Loopt Star, Where, Buzz, Dream Walk, BriteKite, MyTown, PegShot — that use GPS-driven location tagging to allow users to check in, post tips and, more importantly, share that information with their friends. Each check-in rewards the user with a badge, passport stamp or points.

There are also social good-focused geo location services such as CauseWorld and Scavnger that allow users to check in and redeem their points for causes they support. And, more recently, Yelp and Facebook announced that they, too, will join the fray with their own location-based service.

How do I get started?

Download one of Foursquare’s mobile apps on your phone. They provide apps for iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Palm phones.

Register for an account on Foursquare’s website or through the mobile app. Be sure to upload a profile picture so you can be eligible for mayorships! Link your Facebook and Twitter accounts to make it easy to find your friends and share your current location on your favorite social networking sites.

Check in at the places you visit

Checking in lets your friends know where you are. To check in, open the mobile app on your phone and Foursquare will use your phone’s GPS to find your current location. Click the “places” button or tab to see a list of nearby places where you can check in. If the place you’re looking for isn’t in the list, add it directly from your phone.  You’ll have the option to share your location with your Foursquare friends and with Facebook and Twitter.

Check out tips and leave them for others

One of Foursquare’s greatest features is the ability to leave tips on a venue. People leave tips about their favorite dishes, things to do, how to get a discount and even where to find clean bathrooms. You’ll find tips like “the Gyro Pizza is the best you’ll ever eat” or “avoid the hot and spicy burrito — it’s neither hot nor spicy.”

With Foursquare the primary premise is around rewarding users with three different merit systems.  Mayors, Badges and Points.

1)  Mayor – A mayor is a user who is in 1^st place on the location leader board.  First place defined as most check-ins

2)  Badges – Badges are awarded for achieving various milestones tied to either the number of check-in’s at a given location or the amount of check-in’s throughout the day or other criteria. 

3)  Points – Points are awarded at varying increments based on multiple factors such as a new venue may yield a higher point allocation. 

 Get a Discount

Some businesses have started to use Foursquare as a “digital loyalty card” to track users who visit their stores. To reward you for being a regular customer, they might offer you a free drink every fifth visit or 10% off your bill the tenth time you check in. Other places offer discounts to the mayor. You’ll see any specials a business is offering in your mobile app when you check out the list of nearby venues.

Foursquare has just hired several staffers whose job is to plow through the long queues of business requests. They’re each currently processing hundreds of such requests a day.  On the list are a huge number of mobile businesses that want to verify their listings – a process by which Foursquare confirms a person owns (or represents the owner of) a food cart, cafe, corporate office, or any other business. Verification is a prerequisite for offering specials – like, for instance, a free Italian sausage with onions and peppers on your fourth check-in.

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers has become the first major national restaurant chain to launch a checkin special on Foursquare. Any Foursquare user who shows their server they’ve checked in will receive either a Big Melt Bacon Burger or a Honey Mustard Chicken Sandwich for $6.99.

Bing joined CNN in sponsoring a badge for this year’s World Cup. Users are able to unlock the badge by checking in at world cup viewing locations in select U.S. cities like New York, Atlanta, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Seattle.

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) has launched a partnership with Foursquare to encourage visitors to check in when they visit the museum. Foursquare users who check in twice will earn the Met Lover badge.

Six Flags amusement parks have announced a partnership with Foursquare to offer a new badge and other incentives to guests who check in through Foursquare. The Funatic badge can be unlocked by checking in 10 times at the same Six Flags park this summer.

Foursquare Benefits?

6 reasons to care about Foursquare as a business

1) Customer insight and word of mouth – You can gain invaluable insight into the behavior patterns of your customers. You can analyze visit trends as well as gain insight into their views of your brand.

2) Customer service – With the ability to get near real time feedback as users interact you can gauge the sentiment of your users.

3) Customer retention/ Loyalty Program – Forget about punch cards, track loyalty via check-in’s and reward those who frequent establishments with special offers and recognition.

4) Viral Effect – With the auto post of updates to Twitter & Facebook with badge unlocks and options to post your check-in’s the viral impact of check-in’s is amplified with this service moreso than other geo-services to date.

5) Big Brands are taking note – Starbucks & Dominos have already started campaigns with Foursquare and with various media partnerships this trend will quickly continue to rise.

6) Measurement – One of the powerful elements of the service is the analytics option that is currently being rolled out. As a business owner it is possible to track: Total checkins, unique visitors, when and if users shared their updates (twitter, facebook) as well as analysis of demographic breakdown and ability to track usage over time .

4 reasons to care about Foursquare as a consumer

• Technology powered digital memory jogger:  We are all prone to memory lapses. How nice to have a record of your travels on your phone. No need to remember the address; the geo location service automatically populates. If you use the comment section to record a note about something you especially enjoyed or despised — a bottle of wine, a helpful sales clerk, etc.

• Tips from known reviewers: I know the people who have left tips at places I check in to.

• Real-time ability to connect in real life with friends and colleagues: Each of these services offers the ability to see what’s trending at any given moment near your location — as well as where your friends and colleagues have checked in (if they enabled sharing).

• Onsite retail rewards: delight factor of receiving an on-site reward or discount for checking into a location.

 Outsell, which provides research and advisory services to the publishing and information industries, surveyed more than 1,000 US advertisers in December 2009 for its annual “Marketing and Advertising Study 2010.”

• Companies will spend 119.6 billion dollars on online and digital strategies and 111.5 billion dollars on newspaper and magazine advertisements and other print campaigns
• US spending on advertising and marketing projected to increase by 1.2 percent in 2010 to 368 billion dollars
• Spending on newspaper advertising expected to drop 8.2 percent to 27 billion dollars
• Print media, on the whole, continued to lag the overall ad market. Consumer Magazine spending fell 3.9% from a year ago while Local Newspapers dropped 5.6%. There was improvement in some narrow segments as Sunday Magazine expenditures jumped 13.7% and National Newspapers increased 9.1%, primarily from gains at the Wall Street Journal.
• Spending on print directories would fall 8.3 percent to 11.6 billion dollars
• Spending on print newsletters would be flat at 11.4 billion dollars
• Spending on direct mail marketing campaigns could rise 2.7 percent to 24.4 billion dollars and spending on custom print publications would be 3.0 percent higher at 19.3 billion dollars
• Spending on television advertising was forecast to drop 6.5 percent to 59.6 billion dollars
  • In Q1 2010, Spot TV surged 22.0% on a torrent of additional money from the automotive, retail, financial service and political categories. Despite this growth, current spending volume in Spot TV has only recovered to a level last seen in 1997.
  • Other television media types also performed strongly in Q1 2010. Network TV expenditures finished the period up 11.6%. Cable TV (+8.2%), and Spanish Language TV (+7.2%) each benefitted from selling more ad time and strengthened demand among across a broad range of package goods and retail advertisers.

• National Spot Radio advanced 19.0% and was paced by higher spending from the telecom, financial service and auto categories. Local Radio and Network Radio were also up.
• Methods generating the highest B2B ROI are topped by advertisers’ own websites, followed by conferences, exhibitions and trade shows; direct mail; search engine keywords; and e-marketing/e-newsletters.
• B2B advertisers see cross-media marketing as most effective; 78% combine three or more major marketing methods.
• 51 percent of B2B marketers rate Facebook as extremely or somewhat effective, followed by LinkedIn (45 percent), Twitter (35 percent) and MySpace (25 percent).

The Nebraska Public Service Commission has approved an Area Code Overlay for a 531 area code to share the same geographic region as the existing 402 area code. The change will affect landline and cell phone users.  Basically, people will find they need to dial 10-digits to make a local call.  Local and long-distance calling rates won’t be impacted.  This will apply to new numbers only and existing telephone numbers will not change.

The strong demand for telephone numbers is a positive sign of action and activity in eastern Nebraska.  People should adjust easily to 10-didgit dialing and a new area code.  But don’t tell that to Carrie and Elaine.  On Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw was distraught after receiving a new cell phone with the area code 347. “Oh no,” she says. “I’m a 917 girl. Always have been.”

And on the hit TV show Seinfeld, Elaine loath to forfeit her “cool” New York City area code of 212. Sure enough, a potential beau rejected her when he learned her area code was the then-new 646.  Elaine was devastated.

So when will the change begin?

Beginning June 26, 2010, all customers with a 402 area code should begin dialing the area code for ALL calls (there will be a grace period).

Beginning February 26, 2011, all customers with a 402 area code MUST use the new dialing procedure for ALL calls.  On or after this date, if you do not use the new dialing procedure, your call will not be completed.

Beginning March 26, 2011, new telephone lines or services may be assigned numbers with the 531 area code.  All customers with a 531 area code must dial the area code + seven-digit number on all calls or the call will not be completed.

What will you need to do to prepare for the overlay?

• Update any preprogrammed seven-digit numbers in your cell phone to include the area code, as well as any text or email alert messages
• Reprogram all services, automatic dialing equipment or other types of equipment that are programmed to dial a seven-digit number to include the area code.  Some examples are life safety systems, fire or burglar alarm & security systems, security gates, speed dials, call forwarding, fax machines, internet dial-up numbers, etc…
• Check your website and marketing materials. Business stationery, advertising materials, contact information, etc..
  • Collateral Materials & Brochures
  • Exterior & Interior Signage
  • Directory Listings
  • Print ads
  • Television ads
  • Radio ads
  • Online ads
  • Outdoor ads

Which is fine since I’m quite certain I’m not in the target demo. So it’s all good. They’ll attract the younger bloodthirsty crowd and keep away those of us who would recoil in horror and bolt out of the theater. Right?

Actually, what I’ve read about Splice tells me that I might be jumping the gun. Were I to dismiss my instincts and brave the theater on Friday, and assuming that I could make it past all of the gratuitous scare tactics, I might find a heartwarming albeit bizarre tale. I’m still not convinced it would be worth it.

As I read on it became clear that reviewers are wondering if the bloodthirsty aspects are enough for the ghoulish youthful demographics. Is the time right for the “softer side of horror” or are men 18-24 in for a real letdown? Are they attempting to broaden their core audience – is that why so many of the promos are reaching me? This is indeed a mystery.

Has Dark Castle plowed enormous resources into a movie that – like their part human part alien creature in Splice – is only part horror and part poignant drama with a dash of dark comedy for luck? Will it prove to be the next breakthrough genre? Sounds risky. And expensive if they’ve missed the mark.

I don’t know about you but I’m on the edge of my seat – and that’s without any plans for a trip to the movie theater.

But now that is a thing of the past.  Nowadays all kids have to do is fire up their computers or smart phones and go on Twitter.  Justin Bieber (a.k.a the Kirk Cameron of his generation) is literally surrounded by over 2 million girls following him on Twitter. For someone to be that close to their celebrity crush is amazing to me.  Girls who never in their life thought that they would get to talk to their celebrity crush now can.  If the celeb chooses to write back this is certainly something that she will remember for the rest of her life.  Just the gravity of it all is really astonishing!

Also, from a celebs perspective this method has got to be easier than trying to answer thousands of fan letters a week. And if you are Justin Bieber you have 2 million girls at your disposal.  Two million girls!  I can’t imagine anything better to a 16 year old boy. 

If I had this technology back in my day I can only imagine how it would have played out.  Instead of playing Girl Talk with my girlfriends we would each be glued to our smart phones desperately trying to seek out every word, every photo, and every moment that Kirk chose to share with us. Instead of ripping out Kirk’s centerfold in Tiger Beat we would simply download his picture & print it out or share it with everyone socially. 

Granted even though access to celebrities is much more attainable now in the online world, a little part of me feels sad that now it’s all so easy.  Where is the fun and adventure in that?  I must have drafted over 20 letters to Kirk before I composed “the one” that was going to make him have to meet me.  I waited anxiously for months checking the mailbox for a return letter from him.  I bought all of his magazines, t-shirts, stickers, posters and watched every episode of Growing Pains religiously.  I was devoted.

Now I know what you all must be thinking, did she get the damn letter from Kirk Cameron?  Unfortunately I did not but I did receive a letter and photo from Mackenzie Aston. During the entire time I was writing to Kirk I was also writing to Mackenzie.  I know how could I betray Kirk like that?  Well it was something that just happened (isn’t that what all people say).  Kirk wasn’t giving me the attention that I needed so I ran into the arms (a.k.a. fan club) of Mackenzie. 

I’m sorry you had to hear it this way Kirk.

Google has partnered with Intel and Sony to create Google TV, an ambitious attempt to mold its Android software into TVs, Blu-ray players, and a Google set-top box called Buddy Box.

Google TV will be delivered on set-top boxes that use Intel Atom chips and run an Android-based platform, though the technology will also reportedly be built directly into Blu-ray players and TVs from Sony. Additionally, Google is working with Logitech to build a keyboard-equipped remote control.  This would be your remote for everything from what I understand.    

Google TV combines two proven ingredients from Google: Android and its Chrome Web browser. It replaces your TV or cable/satellite tuner’s program guide with a simpler version that indexes both what’s in your 100 or 200 or 300 channels and what’s on the Web. It emphasizes search instead of browsing.  Popular sites like Hulu don’t have to enable content locking out Google TV users.  Boxee (partner & provider of Apple TV) had this happen to them last year. 

Google TV offers:

• Search: It’s built into the TV experience. Search for “Survivor” and get a list of results that include live TV (select to watch now), episodes airing later (select to record to DVR) and web content related to it.
• Integration with Android phones: Over WiFi, an Android phone can become a remote and you can even go so far as to use voice search, too.
• Partners: Sony, Intel, Dish Network, Logitech, Adobe and Best Buy. Power names for a power launch, expected this fall.

Of course in true Google style they want to be able to gather information about you.  They want to learn about your TV viewing habits and sell ads around that behavior. You don’t have to like it but you also don’t have to use it.  As a marketing professional and consumer I really don’t mind this tactic.  If ads come to me that are catered to my lifestyle and behaviors fantastic. Also, if I can play a small part in stopping overactive bladder or erectile dysfunction ads from coming into my house on a regular basis then I say go for it.     

Many Questions are still left Unanswered

Set-top boxes that play video games, let you watch videos, view photo slideshows, and listen to music are great ideas, but what about the rest of the Web? The fact is that Web content is text heavy with a large number of blogs, news sites, and social networks that people visit on a daily basis.  But you tend to sit quite a few feet back from the television in your living room, which makes it harder and less comfortable to read text. So how probable is it that you’ll want to use your television for Twitter, Facebook or Instant Messenger chats?  I would have to say no in my case as I have a difficult time reading text on my laptop unless it’s magnified to 100%.  But I’m no spring chicken anymore either. 

There are also many questions as to how Google will incorporate advertising into its TV platform.  Will ads on Google TV devices be delivered through websites & traditional TV programming or will they be delivered through another alternative like Android apps?  This could really shake things up for marketers if this takes off.  The New York Times reports that Google’s biggest motivation for developing Google TV is to “ensure that its…search and advertising systems, play a central role.” I agree.  They would be foolish not to. I have no doubt that Google ads will be pushed into the Google TV platform somehow.  It’s just a matter of when and how. 

eMarketer estimates that digital video ad spending will jump 48% this year to $1.5 billion. Though, with lower-quality online video playing on high-definition screens, that audience for web video probably has a ceiling.

There is no doubt that this will have a major impact on how we plan & buy media and create ads for our clients.  Not only will we be creating online ads for computers but these will now also need to be created (sized & reformatted) for digital TV screens as well.   But will it be as simple as reformatting an online ad for TV?  Probably not if you think about the creative messaging implications. 

Will consumers now be able to essentially click on a Google TV ad to get more info or even buy a product?  Will this translate the same as web or will there be a clear distinction between the two?  I don’t think anyone knows yet.   

This is truly an awesome technological advancement to see and only time will tell if Google can really make it happen.    

To help understand the true impact check out this video on Google TV.   http://mashable.com/2010/05/20/google-tv-3/

How Does Retargeting Work?

Retargeting works by anonymously observing consumers’ behaviors while they are visiting your website. Targeted messages are delivered to those consumers after they leave– based on whether or not they completed a desired action. While behavioral marketing in general uses online actions to identify, reach and convert good prospects, retargeting focuses on consumers who have actually been to your site.

Here’s an example of how it works. Let’s say you’re the new Cowboys Stadium with tickets that you want to sell. You can put a piece of code on the tickets page of your website, which will let you later show relevant ticket ads (such as last minute discounts) to everyone who has visited that page, as they subsequently browse sites in the Google content network (or whichever network you are running on).

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You can also run a number of retargeting campaigns at the same time. For example, you could offer discount game tickets to users who’ve previously visited your tickets page, advertise VIP hospitality packages to users who clicked on your “Hospitality Suites” page, and advertise a sale on team merchandise to users who previously visited your online store.

It doesn’t matter where the traffic is coming from to your site (print ads, TV, radio, online) as long as the traffic volume is there.  Retargeting is a great way for businesses to reach users who are likely to be highly receptive to their ads and special offers. It helps advertisers and websites get higher returns.

Retargeting can effectively optimize value across all your marketing efforts. The TV spot or online ad running for your business leading consumers to your website was not cheap, and retargeting helps ensure those dollars turn into revenue.

You can also use Search Retargeting for display advertising.  Yahoo!’s Search Retargeting, for example, is a customized display targeting solution that lets advertisers capture user interest from search terms and retarget the user with display ads throughout the Yahoo! Network. For example, if a user searches for the keyword “sandals,” indicating strong purchase intent, an advertiser can target that user with a tailored display ad for footwear.

Remember to retarget your past website visitors even if they have already made a purchase with you.  Don’t be shy to keep in contact with them.  The trust is already there, they are familiar with your brand and service, and more than likely they have an interest in another one of your products…….Up-Sell and Cross-Sell!

Purchasing of retargeting ads is made on a cost-per-click (CPC) or dynamic cost-per-thousand (CPM) basis and requires that a website have at least 500 visitors per month to be eligible for retargeting.  You can also specify how long a person remains on your retargeting list.  You may only want someone to be on the list for a period of 10-days to ensure they are not overexposed to your message.  Frequency capping can be implemented, such as only serving an advertiser’s retargeted ad to the same user once within a 24-hour period.

 Possible downsides of retargeting 

• Not everyone visits the websites that are on the Yahoo & Google content network.
  • Even though the Google content network reaches over 80% of internet users there is a chance that consumer X may travel to a site not in the network after he visits your site.
    • The Google content network reaches 80% of global internet users — making it the world’s #1 ad network.  
• The CTR will more than likely be lower than what we usually see on display & PPC campaigns
  • This is due to a higher number of overall impressions being served while clicks may be lower
  • Very similar to the Facebook model.  Facebook advertising is great because you have the ability to run thousands of impressions for very little money.  The downside is that your overall CTR will more than likely be very low. 

 Upside of retargeting 

• Advertisers have the opportunity, for very little money, to retarget consumers who we know have visited the website for one reason or another.
  • These are your most valuable prospects – they have already shown interest in your offerings just by visiting the site
• This allows your company to continue to grow their customer relationships
  • Continue the conversation. Deliver product ads. Build your brand. Give your customers what they are looking for – and forge a relationship with your online visitors.
• You can retarget anything that you want.  You can create one script code and put it on multiple pages (or top 3 trafficked pages) to build your retargeting bucket.   This allows your retargeting audience size to grow.  

What the majority of online ad networks do is sell remnant inventory (which they have purchased from other publishers) at a lower CPM.  Typically this will get you exactly what you pay for.  Quite often you will not know exactly where you are running or worse yet you could be running next to questionable content on the web.  This lack of transparency and control can kill your brand. 

Many publishers like Disney have also said enough is enough and will not sell unsold (remnant) inventory to ad networks anymore.  Publishers like Disney would much rather the inventory be used for co-branded initiatives than sold to ad networks resulting in lost revenue for Disney.

Years ago many of us (myself included) jumped on the ad network bandwagon partly due to its appealing price tag for our clients.  Now it seems like online ad network companies are multiplying and coming out stronger than ever for business.  I probably get at least two phone calls a day from a “new” online ad network wanting to pitch me their business.

It seems to me like more advertisers and publishers are rediscovering the value of associating products and brands with high-quality premium content over ad networks.  Don’t get me wrong, I love a great deal just as much as the next person but it’s important to remember you get what you pay for.

Everyone is buzzing about Lane Bryant’s “too sexy for TV” ad.  Lane Bryant said ABC refused to show the commercial during “Dancing with the Stars” because it bared too much cleavage.  The Fox Network also put up a roadblock and demanded excessive re-edits and rebuffed it three times before relenting to air it during the final 10 minutes of “American Idol”.

So I don’t get it with this Lane Bryant ad.  I’ve seen the ad and nothing sticks out to me (pun intended).  If you ask me there is worse programming and commercials out there than a “full-figured” woman wearing a bra and panties.  ABC (Disney Company) airs Cougar Town – which had a memorable scene that implied Courtney Cox’s character administering oral sex to her date.  And Fox airs Glee (which is usually good clean fun) – which glamorized teenagers losing their virginities to Madonna’s Like a Virgin this week.   

I mean where do you draw the line?  In the 1950s, TV couldn’t show married couples sleeping in the same bed. In the ’60s, exposing the bellybutton of I Dream of Jeannie‘s Barbara Eden was risqué.  Braless jiggles on Charlie’s Angels were considered daring in the ’70s. But by the ’90s, the expanse of adult-themed content on premium channels such as HBO and sex-infused music videos on MTV made baring the derriere of a hefty NYPD Blue cop acceptable to the masses on ABC.

Granted most of these commercials and TV shows nowadays are meant to be extreme to start buzz about their products.  It’s all part of the show.  In today’s economy with budgets shrinking, advertisers often feel forced to come up with buzz-worthy campaigns to survive.  Whether or not the Lane Bryant incident is 100% true I don’t know.  But I would really hate to think that ABC & FOX wouldn’t air this spot because a “full-figured” model was used over a “skinny” model.

Among other findings, the firm found that 44.3% have a household income level of $100,000 or more and 58% have bachelor’s or graduate or other professional degrees. More than two-thirds (65.5%) are male, and 34.5% are female.

In terms of age, people 35 to 44 made up the biggest single segment of iPad owners. Those 25 to 34, 45 to 54, and 55 and over each represented about 20% of the iPad user base. The college-age crowd was 7.5%, and teens were just 3.5%. Like iPhone owners, iPad users skew older, male and more affluent than the general population. As more iPads are sold, the typical user may come to reflect a broader cross-section of consumers.

While the iPad has been described as a big iPod, its minimum $500 price means that most kids will have to rely on a parent buying one to get their hands on the tablet. So the iPad will definitely skew older than the iPod touch audience.  At least for now.  I only personally know of one person who has purchased this new device and by all accounts the stats above are right on except she does not own an iPhone but has multiple iPods.

iPad Creative Implications for Advertisers

*This device was built on mobile functionality so think mobile.  Normal “Web” advertising standards may not apply.   

*Specific iPad creative units are required (can’t stretch units to fit larger screen)

*Your site’s landing page can not rely on any Web browser plug-ins like flash or Java to render content. 

*Marketers must use a specific video tag to ensure embedded video can be seen.

*The iPad can not currently support Flash

Apple has banned the use of any non-native tools to create iPhone and iPad apps, which would shut out Adobe’s cross-platform compiler that effectively ports Flash applications to the iPhone.  Apple’s stance on Flash not coming to the iPhone has been pretty clear over the last few years and is really heating up again with the release of the iPad.  Adobe is not happy about this as you can image and rumors of a potential lawsuit are flying. 

These implications listed above are only a few that advertisers will have to face in order to capture this iPad growing audience. 

It’s All About The Apps

There are currently over 3,500 iPad apps in the app store and over 3.5 million iPad apps have been downloaded to date.  Many iPhone apps are currently tweaking their apps for the iPad like Google. The big iPad optimization takes place with Web apps like Gmail, Google Reader, Maps, and Buzz.

The Facebook iPad app, from what I hear could really use some work.  Users claim it’s great for notifications but then you have to check your messages at your desktop or on your iPad browser.  You would think that Facebook with its massive reach (400 million+ users & 100 million+ US users) would build a more enhanced app for this new platform.  

In conclusion, Apple once again has quickly gained dominance over the rapidly evolving media landscape because they have developed a platform that represents a winning proposition for consumers, publishers and broadcasters and advertisers.

Making its way to a vagina near you is the Mooncup.  “The Healthy Alternative to Tampons”.

This British product called Mooncup (currently being marketed) is a silicone menses receptacle designed to replace tampons and sanitary pads. Sort of a diaphragm meets chamber pot, it’s a flexible reservoir for menstrual fluids that you scrunch up to insert and slide out to empty.  http://loveyourvagina.com

Every woman will use an average of 12,000 sanitary products in her life, which can be replaced by one reusable Mooncup.  Well I can’t speak for all women but I must say that I would definitely have to pass on this product. 

Buying tampons every month doesn’t seem so bad now after seeing this Mooncup.  I am all for helping the environment but not at this cost.  I remember my Grandmother telling me stories about products like this back in the 30’s.  This product seems like we are going back in time not forward.  

Even though they may be able to capitalize on the environmentally-friendly woman, I still think this would be a very difficult product to market in this day and age.  It is a complete shift in mindset to go from a tampon user to a Mooncup user unless you have been brought up using something similar to this product from early womanhood. 

The Brits can keep this one.

ESPN will be carrying the first and second round of the Masters April 8 and 9, while CBS has broadcast rights to the weekend rounds April 10 and 11, writes Mediaweek.

Woods’ sponsors are also likely relieved to hear of his imminent April return, though they will be watching his performance carefully. If he plays well, sponsors like Nike and Electronic Arts may be led to decide that his strong performance mitigates the bad press surrounding his marital infidelities. If he plays poorly, however, they may say Woods is not only “risky” from a marketing perspective, but that he’s no longer achieving the same level of success that drew them to him in the first place, says David Carter, executive director of the Sports Institute at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business (via Reuters).

ESPN is banking on a large audience. “Tiger’s return to competitive golf at this year’s Masters Tournament will surely be one of the biggest stories the sporting world has seen,” John Wildhack, evp of programming and acquisitions for ESPN, says. “We will cover the Masters Tournament and Tiger’s return across a variety of ESPN platforms, both domestically and internationally.”

The highest-rated golf telecast in over three decades was the final round of the Masters in 1997 when Woods won for the first time. The telecast generated a 14.1% household rating. The second highest-rated golf event was in 2001, when Woods again won, generating a 13% rating.

Last year, the Masters without Woods declined by almost 50%, and the golfer’s absence from the PGA Tour this year caused an 11% decline, according to Nielsen numbers. While the audience for the Masters may increase significantly, the audience may not be of much interest to golf advertisers like Titleist and Callaway, as viewers may not be too interested in the actual sport of golf.

Eli Lilly & Co. was the top spender in PGA events last year, with $28.1 million invested between January and October. Other major sponsors include FedEx, with $24.1 million in spending, AT&T ($18.7 million), Pfizer ($17.1 million) and Toyota ($17.1 million). Sponsors for April’s Masters include Coca-Cola, IBM, Mercedes and AT&T.

Advertisers spent an average $104,500 for a :30-spot in 2009 PGA Tour events in which Woods appeared. During his hiatus, that number declined 30%, to $80,200 per :30-spot.

Mediaweek points out that those estimates exclude the four Majors, which typically have a cost of $200,000 per :30-spot.

Source: MediaPlannerBuyer.com 3/16/10

Altogether, U.S. advertisers and marketers plan to spend $368 billion in 2010, Outsell found — up 1.2% from about $364 billion in 2009. Within the 2010 figure, 32.5% ($119.6 billion) will go to digital, versus 30.3% ($111.5 billion) for print.

While the digital figure includes online advertising mainstays like display and search, it also includes direct marketing, represented by email, as well as investments in company Web sites, which will 53% ($63 billion) of the total digital spending.

As in previous years, print ad revenue declines will fall heaviest on newspapers — with Outsell forecasting total ad revenues of $27 billion in 2010, down about 8% from 2009. Outsell also sees revenue for print directories falling about 8% to $11.6 billion. But it’s not all bad news for print, as Outsell predicts a 2% increase in ad spending for magazines, rising to $9.4 billion.

Not every part of the digital market is buoyant. One surprising prediction in the report has mobile advertising revenues sinking 16% in 2010 compared to 2009. On the television front (combining broadcast and cable), Outsell has total TV ad revenues falling 6.5% to $59.6 billion.

So where do you fall into the picture?  If online advertising is not in your current marketing plan I would strongly suggest that you look into it.  Online advertising allows us to marry consumers with brand involvement.  And in this day and age brand involvement and engagement is key.  

With online advertising you are able to target your market much more efficiently and effectively than with many traditional advertising strategies. Online advertising also offers the benefit of providing detailed and thorough statistics that allow you to tweak and optimize your campaigns to the fullest.

With traditional advertising, there is little you can do to track the success of small changes within campaigns or one campaign as compared to another. However, with online advertising you have a huge array of information at your fingertips.

According to The Nielsen Company, the TV audience for the Winter Olympics is predominantly female, unlike the male-favored Super Bowl. Through February 21, an estimated 56% of Olympic viewers are female, while 44% are male. Super Bowl viewership earlier this month was almost the exact opposite, with its audience composed of 54% males and 46% females.

Olympics ratings are clearly highest among older viewers, finds the study. Ratings among teenagers are 57% lower than the national average for this year’s primetime Olympics broadcasts.

• Ratings among the 18-49 group are 20% lower than the national average
• Ratings among those 55 and older are 82% higher

Some additional ratings include ethnicity, geography, and equipment:

• Ratings among Hispanic and African-American viewers are each 74% below the national average
• Asian ratings are 15% below the national average
• Ratings in the West Central region of the United States area are 24% higher than the national average
• Viewership in the Southwest is 28% lower than the national average
• 55% of Olympic viewers are in HD-capable/receivable homes. Viewing in these homes is 14% higher than the national average
• 41% of Olympic viewers are in DVR homes and have ratings 12% higher than the national average

To lend context to these demographic insights, Nielsen compared U.S. viewership trends from the Olympics to trends from the Super Bowl played earlier this month.

Ratings among female Olympics viewers are 9% higher than the national average, says the report, while ratings among male Olympics viewers are 9% lower.  In contrast, female ratings were 11% lower than the Super Bowl’s national average, while male ratings were 11% higher.

Much like the Olympics, ratings for the Super Bowl were highest among older viewers. Ratings among teenagers for the Super Bowl were 20% lower than the national average (compared to the 57% lower ratings for the Olympics). Ratings for the Super Bowl improve in older demographics, where the ratings are 6% higher than the national average in the 18-49 age group and 15% higher among those 55 and up.

The comparison also found that a larger percentage of Super Bowl viewers were African-American, Hispanic, or Asian (23% compared to 11% for the Olympics). Ratings within the African-American and Hispanic markets were also higher in the Super Bowl when compared to the national average for each event. Ratings for African-American viewers were 18% lower than the national average for the Super Bowl while Hispanic ratings for the game were 49% lower. Asian ratings for both events were almost identical (16% below average for the Super Bowl vs. 15% below average for the Olympics).

Broken down by individual event, freestyle skiing, which includes men’s and women’s moguls competition, was the most popular Olympic sport among US TV weekend viewers through February 15, according to a minute-by-minute analysis of viewing conducted by Nielsen.

As reported by MarketingCharts, during NBC’s primetime broadcast coverage, an average of 26.9 million viewers watched the freestyle events in the first weekend of Olympic competition:

• Downhill skiing was the second most popular sport, with an average of 26.7 million viewers watching coverage of the event
• Luge coverage earned an average of 26.2 million viewers

However, Nielsen analysis of Internet buzz from February 9-18, 2010 shows that hockey is the most discussed Olympic sport online. Among all online messages related to winter Olympic sports, more than 30% were linked to hockey. Luge generated the second highest amount of buzz over that time, with almost 18%, followed by figure skating with 10% of Olympics sports buzz.

Toyota vehicles have been appearing in ABC’s hit show “Modern Family” as part of a product-placement deal struck with ABC that covers the entire 2009-2010 season.  The Toyota pact was struck well before the automaker recalled millions of its cars across several models.

The problem now is that Toyota simply can’t pull out of the deal since they are essentially part of the story line.  Usually when a crisis involving a particular marketer or product arises, common practice is to remove all commercials as soon as possible.  Toyota is now stuck.

Placing products into shows, however often requires months worth of planning.  The goods are made part of a script or storyline and are often captured as part of key scenes in an episode. Pulling a product appearance from a key scene simply is not logistically possible — and can be expensive, when it is.

Toyota’s reasons for keeping its cars in “Modern Family” are simple: After spending a lot of ad money reassuring the public, it wants to get back to selling. Hopefully the show’s strong ratings can help the automaker regain the trust of the American public.

Leichtman data measured homes with Web-TV connections via video game and Blu-ray systems, as well as compatible TVs. Add in homes that can connect with a TiVo, Roku player or computer, and the amount is estimated to come in just north of 24%.

Leichtman research shows that while 5% of adults watch Web video on the TV weekly, the figure is just 1% on a daily basis. Since game consoles are so widespread, the viewing is largely among young men. Among men ages 18 to 34, 16% are viewing Web video on the big screen weekly via a console, Blu-ray or compatible TV.

The findings come from a survey of 1,250 U.S. homes.

Research from the Yankee Group shows that 23% of homes with an HDTV set have the ability to link the Internet to that screen. Still, only 5% of all homes are watching Internet video on TV.

There have been suggestions that the opportunity to watch video from YouTube, Hulu, ESPN360, CBS Sports and a slew of other sites on a large TV screen could prompt people to cancel a cable or satellite subscription.

But Bruce Leichtman, who conducted the research, said that’s unlikely. The people with the Web-to-TV devices are likely to covet the typical run of TV channels and be willing to pay the price to keep a subscription.

A New York start-up company called Boxee is jumping into the mix.  Boxee bills its software as a simple way to access multiple Internet video and music sites, and to bring them to a large monitor or television that one might be watching from a sofa across the room.

Some of Boxee’s fans also think it is much more: a way to euthanize that costly $100-a-month cable or satellite connection.  

The software, which is free and available for download at www.boxee.tv, works on Mac and Linux computers, and on Apple’s set-top box, Apple TV. A version of Boxee for Windows PCs is being tested among a limited group of users.  Boxee gives users a single interface to access all the photos, video and music on their hard drives, along with a wide range of television shows, movies and songs from sites like Hulu, Netflix, YouTube, CNN.com and CBS.com.

The most ardent Boxee fanatics — almost all of its 200,000 early adopters seem to have turned into online evangelists for the company — then connect their computers to their living room televisions.

The challenge for the cable industry is how they grapple with the fact that this is in some way a substitution for some of the things they do.   So will this replace cable subscriptions?  I doubt it but it will certainly be interesting to see how many homes this influences in years to come.  Services like Boxee will come into the mix but will be used to supplement the entire television viewing experience. 

Face it we are a society now that demands content be accessible whenever and wherever we wish.

Woah.

The implications of this move are extremely interesting. Think about the possibilities, and what this does for Google, online content, search, and extending your online global audience.

Google will launch a service that automatically adds English subtitles to a video, if English is the language spoken in the sound track. That alone is impressive. Speech to text recognition software has been around for a long time, but for Google to have something in their pocket that they feel is good enough to add to public user videos means that they have something highly versatile. Of course, they say it will need input and scrutiny from the video owner, but that’s just a little way of asking for help in making sure they index your content correctly.

Online content wins, because previously, there was no easy and automated way for spoken words to be found in online search unless there was a video transcription. Now Google is going to attempt to do it automatically. Even if they only get it 50% correct, there’s a tremendous opportunity for them to have a handle on a significant amount of content that their competitors do not. This increases the public’s ability to find relevant information, and it also increases Google’s ability to sell contextual advertising.

Finally, when you pair what Google is already doing with offering live website text translation into different languages with auto-captioning, you have the opportunity to instantly expand one little English language video into a globally understandable piece of video content. Without doing anything more, people across the globe can find your video content via search.

Again. Woah.

Keep watching this topic. If it works, this could stir up the competitive search landscape if Bing isn’t close to doing the same thing. Another notch in organizing the world’s information indeed, Google.

The video which surfaced on YouTube shows the couple working out on gym equipment in their birthday suits, a video part of a “viral campaign for Reebok” who Liddell has a sponsorship deal with.

Thankfully the couples private parts are blurred out but this is still very racy.  Personally I can’t even tell that the UFC Champ is even wearing Reebok shoes so I ask myself was this gamble worth it for Reebok?

  Chuck Liddell and his girlfriend are the ones getting all of the press from this with Reebok barely mentioned.  That is unless the time comes (and it will) that organizations like the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families start to protest against Reebok and its parent company Adidas. 

This was a HUGE risk for Adidas-Reebok if you ask me. 

http://www.tmz.com/2010/02/26/chuck-liddell-naked-workout-video-reebok-shoes-girlfriend-heidi-northcott/

The Olympics averaged a 5.4 rating in the 18-49 demo on Tuesday, while Idol generated a 9.1.   Tuesday’s airing of American Idol, which unveiled Ellen DeGeneres as a judge, pulled the biggest numbers for a non-finale, non-debut in two years.

But on Wednesday night, the Olympics brought the heat to the singing competition. During the hour that the two shows competed against each other, the Olympics pulled 30.1 million people, while American Idol was seen by 18.4 million. 

I myself am all about the Olympics so I say God Bless the U.S.A!

Despite some expectations that NBC would pull low ratings for the Olympic Games – NBC has pulled an average of 28.6 million viewers each night for the first three nights – 25% higher than the 22.9 million who watched Turin games in 2006.

Also sadly boosting viewership was the tragedy of Georgian luge racer Nodar Kumaritashvili.  NBC aired the footage from the crash once during the Nightly News and again before the start of the Opening Ceremony. 

Did you know that marketers are now going as far as to actually create Television shows just so they can feature/”pimp” their products.  Marketers will do anything to stay one step ahead in this increasingly competitive environment, but at what cost?

Two major marketers, Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble are joining to create a made-for-TV movie called Secrets of the Mountain which will air on NBC this April targeting families.  The film will include product placements for both marketers, and ads for the companies will run during commercial breaks.  Wal-Mart will be the “presenting sponsor” paying P&G for the rights to that title – as part of its broader “Wal-Mart’s Family Moments” effort.

The program features a single mother and her three children who spend time at a cabin in the mountains. They use P&G’s Duracell batteries in their flashlights, feed their dog P&G’s Iams pet food, and eat cereal from Wal- Mart’s Great Value private-label brand.

I am envisioning this scene now and it makes me want to throw up a little.  Next thing you know, there will be a story line with little Sarah getting her first menstrual period with her mother by her side encouraging her to use P&G’s Tampax Tampons.

Ok, maybe I’m a little too tough on this new method of marketing, but I would like to at least try and protect the quality of my programming to a degree.

This past Sunday, Super Bowl XLIV managed to break all records and surpass M*A*S*H* as the most watched television show in history.  Viewership for the Super Bowl came in at 106.5 million, up from 98.7 million viewers last year.  The series finale of  M*A*S*H* previously held this title since 1983 bringing in 105.97 million viewers.

Sunday’s Super Bowl also had the most ad time in history. At 47 minutes and 50 seconds of ads, it beat last year’s Super Bowl ad tally of 44:50. Forty-one companies advertised, buying a total of 66 spots (excluding ads aired by the NFL and by CBS).

Anheuser-Busch was once again the top advertiser, with nine spots, followed by Hyundai with four. Dot-coms held the top ad category, with 5:45 seconds of ad time from eight different companies. Automakers and beer companies were the next top advertising category, tying at 5:30.

CBS acknowledged that it was attempting to get more inventory out of the game in part because of an influx of late advertising inquiries. One way it did this was by selling a number of :15 spots. The game included seven such spots, compared to none in the Super Bowl last year.

Two of the best-rated individual TV markets were the markets of the two teams in the game:  New Orleans and Indianapolis.  New Orleans earned top market share overall with Indianapolis coming in fourth place.  Washington, D. C came in second and Nashville was in third place.  Nielsen says a major winter storm in D. C. kept viewers in their homes, which pushed up viewership.

Super Bowl XLIV will be only broadcast digitally – a first.  CBS has reached its goal of selling out the commercial inventory.  Advertisers caught a break this year and paid $2.5 million to $2.8 million per commercial for one 30-second in-game spot compared to a year ago, when NBC sold 30-second spots for around $3 million each.

This year’s ad roster includes Hyundai, Audi, Honda Motor, Chrysler’s Dodge, E-Trade, Go Daddy, Dr Pepper, Coca-Cola, Cars.com, CareerBuilder, Doritos, Bridgestone and Anheuser Busch. Looks like automakers are making a comeback.

New advertisers include Boost Mobile, vacation rental service HomeAway, the U.S. Census Bureau and Christian group Focus on the Family, which is airing a controversial pro-life spot that has drawn protests.

Veteran Super Bowl advertisers not participating this year include:  Fedex, General Motors and PepsiCo’s Pepsi.  In lieu of running in the Super Bowl, Pepsi launched its Pepsi refresh project. At the Pepsi Refresh website you can submit ideas to help and make a positive impact. The ideas with the most votes get cash grants from Pepsi.

Rumored but not “officially” on the committed list is Motorola. Rumors of Motorola advertising during Super Bowl appeared end of 2009. But it’s been very secretive about any Super Bowl 2010 ad plans. Now Motorola has set up a teaser site for their commercial and it features a bath tub.  The preview merely shows a stylish bathroom with a bath tub filled with bubbles. We will see what can happen when the power of Motoblur is unleashed.

In the last few years, many companies have used a strategy of “leaking” Super Bowl ads on the web to create buzz before they actually air.  I had a chance recently to preview some of these ads.

• New player HomeAway brings back Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo as Clark and Ellen Griswold from the 80s movie National Lampoon’s Vacation.  The company is publishing a 15-minute mini movie on their site right after the Super Bowl commercial airs. Many Super Bowl viewers will miss 15 minutes of the game as the HomeAway Hotel Hell Mini Movie promises to be very funny.
• The Denny’s Super Bowl 2010 commercial is set to be funny again. A new advocate who invites viewers to enjoy a Free Original Grand Slam while warning chickens to get out of town because “it’s going to be a tough week for egg layers.”
• The “Punch Dub” VW ad is based on the classic game that kids used to play back in the original Beetle’s heyday called “Punch Buggy” (or “Slug Bug”), where the first person to see a Beetle would yell, “Punch Bug” and playfully slug his or her friend. Volkswagen also “found” the creator of the original game, Charlie “Sluggy” Patterson. This is my favorite ad so far.
• Audi leads up to their Super Bowl 2010 ad with funny Green Police spots.
• Diamond Foods will be running a whacky Super Bowl commercial for its Pop Secret popcorn and Emerald Nuts.
• Bridgestone is back at the Super Bowl with two new commercials. The first Bridgestone Super Bowl commercial dubbed “Whale of a Tale” has three guys and a giant Orca whale on a truck. Apparently the guys try to save the whale, but what really happens in the commercial is not revealed yet.
• The centerpiece of the Boost Mobile ad is an off-beat re-creation of the 1985 music video using most of the players, the editing techniques and the same look as the iconic original. Legendary coach Mike Ditka also makes a special cameo appearance in the spot.
• kgb agent ads leading up to the kgb Super Bowl ad features two Baldwin brothers.
• Dove Men+Care features one man’s journey of unsung moments from birth to fatherhood in a montage of scenes set to the ‘William Tell Overture’.

As a viewer looks at the system screen, the built-in camera technology analyzes data such as gender and age, audience composition, time-of-day and other criteria, which enable the system to display tailored content and graphics based on estimated demographics. The system anonymously sends audience information to advertisers who can use that information to understand the type of content and messages that are most popular with viewers. This, in turn, helps advertisers target their advertising to maximize the impact on the audience.

Innovations like Intel’s prototype (pictured above) and NEC’s plans as reported in WSJ today, will change the way people interact with digital signage technology in environments such as stores, airports, banks and hotels.

In the Intel demonstration, multiple consumers can use this side-by-side window display simultaneously to explore augmented reality-enabled maps of each floor of the store, on which retailers can superimpose images such as coupons and sales promotions next to the product visualizations on the glass, improving the customer’s shopping experience. They can send coupons to their phones and more.

These innovations in digital signage concept bring a new opportunity for advertisers to smart target messages through the use of anonymous video analytics. Consumers, especially those with growing privacy concerns relative to data collection and behavioral targeting, may object to getting their faces scanned without their knowledge. However, both Intel and NEC stress the concept of anonymous data points and modeling.

“The program tracks a person’s age and gender and throws out the footage, keeping only the macro data, he said, adding that no individuals are singled out.” Mr. Yamamoto in WSJ story.

Some believe CBS has gone too far to the political right in determining what can or can not air, while others dismiss much of the controversy as merely viral stunts that have become part and parcel of the carnival.

First it was Tebow, then ManCrunch and then GoDaddy.

The first religious-political ad CBS has approved to air in the entire history of the Super Bowl hails from the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family and is a pro-life spot featuring college football star Tim Tebow and his mother. Some women’s groups are pressuring CBS to scrap the ad.

A ManCrunch spot for the dating site catering to gay men has been officially nixed by CBS.  In the commercial, two football fans are watching a game when their hands touch in a bowl of chips. Making out then ensues.

GoDaddy, which has a history of banned spots, like the 2005 wardrobe malfunction, got another rejection this year. The banned GoDaddy ad features a retired football player, “Lola”, a big, flamboyant, effeminate, lovable man, who embarks on a successful career as a lingerie designer.

Considering they lifted a ban on so-called controversial ads in order to let in the advocacy spot with Tebow, CBS is likely to take a lot of heat from multiple groups for decisions that are perceived by some as homophobic. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation organization, GLAAD, is speaking out against CBS’s decision to deny running the ManCrunch ad.

Here’s the 2010 SuperBowl commercial lineup.

UPDATE: 6pm Monday — another day another banned spot. KGB said “This ad is in keeping with the provocative, edgy ads KGB has made since we introduced the KGB text product last year,” it tested strong and was the logical choice.  Others pundits say it’s a stunt for attention knowing that  the “head-up-the-ass”  would not clear the censors.  You be the judge.

Spotted on TechCrunch.

I’ve been following the pay wall discussions for months (see previous post) and still have the same question: Will consumers pay for news — in big enough numbers that it will offset the decrease in traffic that pay walls will create? Obviously, the declining revenue situation for newspapers is not getting any better.  In Q3 2009 The New York Times posted a loss of $35.6 million, as revenue fell nearly 17% from the same period a year ago. So something has to change. There’s certainly little chance print subscriptions will increase given changing consumer media behaviors. And the advertising venues and options continue to proliferate online. But I believe website pay walls, as currently positioned, are very risky bets. And seem like a backwards move. A push in forward-thinking and innovations in information delivery and customization seems less risky and a better potential source of long-term revenue.

For The New York Times the bet is especially big, because it not only runs the risk of TimesSelect 2 (the abandoned payment approach in 2007), it risks losing its mojo as top digital (non-aggregator) news site and could retard its digital ad potential if it fails. If readers run into pay walls and quickly move on to still-free (and top-notch) sources like the BBC, Reuters, NBC, NPR and many more — then the model could fall apart. And, The Times, as the leader in advertising revenue with more than 17 million readers a month in the United States, it has a lot lose if the move backfires.

There was one line in the release yesterday that intrigued me and provided a signal of some forward thinking. “NYTimes.com will be building a new online infrastructure designed to provide consumers with a frictionless experience across multiple platforms.” The concept of a frictionless experience is very appealing and could be a major move, IF The Times can pull it off well and quickly. In the age of ubiquitous smart-phones, Kindles, the long awaited Apple tablet, and eventually the Internet-mediated livingroom TV monitor, readers are already coming to expect easy, and smart, access to the their content wherever, whenever. They also will come to expect the stories they save on one device to be known by another; ditto email sharing lists, stock portfolios, favorite sports team preferences.

If The Times can provide such synchronicity, then readers who are asked to pay may accept the charge as, in part, an access charge — like their wireless access charge. And that perception change could change the game.

Google will provide a better data set for advertisers to work with, allowing them to plan their advertising campaigns around the ways that most people are watching the content.  Advertisers can use this data to understand which audiences and ads are most effective, which will more than likely lead to more relevant ads for viewers (addressable television). 

Although this model is very smart allowing advertisers to gain additional insight into the consumer it also has its drawbacks.  The problem that Google still has is that the inventory they are selling is not always quality.  Until they can reach critical mass with this product questionable inventory will always be an issue.  Also, it is impossible to know when people are actually in front of their TV’s when the DVR’s are on.  Nielsen estimates that 10% of DVR’s are never turned off, while 30% are on for 24 hours on any given day. 

Don’t get me wrong this is definitely a step in the right direction but with anything new out there it must be weighed and tested.

These new text based ads will appear in Google search results next to standard business listings, and will be displayed based on the location of your business, the categories your business is defined for and the location of the searcher.

Unlike the current AdWords model, all ads are based on a flat monthly rate. This rate will vary however based on your business type and location. Official pricing for this product has not yet been announced by Google.

The analytics provided with this service are quite nice. You will get full reports on:

• Ad Impressions
• Click-Thru Numbers
• Calls (Based on an 800 number automatically provided by Google that redirects the call to your business number)
• Search terms used when you ad was displayed

Along with these statistics you have two options on where to send people from you ad. You can send them to your current website, if your company has one, or you can create a special business listing within Google Maps.

It will be very interesting to see the initial feedback on this new product. If all goes well, I’m certain this Google Local Advertising will roll out nationally relatively quickly.

But try they might.

According to a new survey conducted for the American Press Institute, more than half of newspaper publishers believe readers will pay to access online newspaper content.  The results from the first survey are being presented at API’s Newsmedia Economic Action Plan Conference this week.

Newspaper companies including News Corp. and MediaNews Group are among those that have already said they will begin charging for online content. News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch says the company will charge for all of its news sites, including FoxNews, by the middle of 2010.

One approach favored by many is to erect a pay wall around virtually all stories. Print subscribers are often—but not always—allowed to read articles free of charge. Everybody else must pay, either on a story-by-story basis or on a subscription plan. The Newport Daily News, a small Rhode Island newspaper, recently began charging $345 per year for online access to stories (that’s more than the print version).  (Interestingly enough Google is now developing a micropayment platform and pitching newspapers… which seems at odds with what Google CEO, Eric Schmidt told publishers at NAA in April that “consumers won’t pay for most online news”.  But based on how I read the proposal from Google, it sounds like they might also get a share of sales, which could explain the approach.)

Another option is to charge for just some content and make other content available free. The best example of this approach, with more than a million online subscribers, is the Wall Street Journal. Roughly half of its articles—generally financial news and business reports—sit behind a pay wall, although they are free if accessed via Google News.

This approach is much harder to emulate than it may appear. Between 2005 and 2007 the New York Times charged a subscription fee to read the paper’s most popular columnists online. It ended the experiment exactly two years ago because it seemed to be cutting traffic to the site and harming advertising revenue. The Los Angeles Times dropped an attempt to charge for arts coverage for the same reason.  A newspaper that wants to follow the Journal’s approach must produce copy that is both narrow in its appeal, highly valued and useful.

Paralleling these approaches are two other news content initiatives that could further impact the industry:

First is a content-management approach by Associated Press which includes plans for a system to detect unlicensed use of its content and potentially create new ways for the news cooperative to make more money online.  AP will bundle its stories in an “informational wrapper” that will include a built-in beacon to monitor where stories go.   This news registry will debut in November and will later expanding to videos and photos. Starting in 2010, newspapers that own the cooperative will be able to put their material into the registry as well.

The second approach, by start up Attributor, called the Fair Syndication Consortium includes Reuters and more than 1,000 publishers.  This one looks to be more of direct revenue-generating tactic, but still faces technical and legal hurdles.  Rather than trying to merely corral copyright-protected stories, the consortium hopes to take a slice of the ad revenue collected by an unauthorized Web site. However, to do that, it needs the cooperation of the big networks like Google and Yahoo, who so far have reacted coolly to the proposal. If a split can’t be agreed upon, the consortium will demand that the advertising running alongside the copyright-protected material be removed.

The issues are complex. I get that.  Newspapers pay their reporters to write stories and then many sites republish those stories and make money via advertising using content someone else paid for.  I get the angst.  But personally I don’t think the pay for content model is going to restore the news (and particularly the newspaper) industry to its level of previous profitability or even save it.  I think it’s short sighted and even misguided thinking.  Given the nature of the net, “news” won’t stop because news organizations wall off their content.  While I have all the respect in the world for a good, thorough reporter, they no longer have a dominance on reporting and analyzing the events in our world. My concern is that this move will only further marginalize the profession of news reporting with large segments of the population.

The hand wringing is about the art of journalism, but isn’t all of this really about advertising revenue? If you think about it, I mean really think about it, our subscriptions to the paper never really paid for the creation of news.  You can’t tell me monthly subscription revenue even came close to paying for the costs associated with producing a paper.  As a percentage of revenue, I wonder if subscription costs even cover the cost of paper and the home delivery.  In reality, advertising dollars underwrote the cost of journalism and those shrinking dollars are the cause of all the hand-wringing and why newspapers are in a world of hurt.

Not too long ago, we had the publisher of our local paper publicly say in a speech at a function that the paper wasn’t in the journalism business, it was in the ad business.  Many were shocked, but I gave him a lot of credit for having the balls to come out and say it.  To me it’s innovation newspapers missed and innovation they need.  Rather than trying to return to what they were, they need to face what is and get on with it.  And there are some very progressive thinkers in the industry with some great ideas for how newspapers can build community on and offline and regain a more progressive, leadership role.  But the train on pay for content has left the station and seems unstoppable at this point.  I just hope no one in the industry thinks it is a magic bullet.

By no means are the issues or ideas being discussed in the industry simple or unanimous. Opinions are as heated as they are varied.  Yet the simple question remains:  Will consumers pay for news online?  Will you?

I doubt I will.  At least for general news. I have too many other choices.

Some very insightful and thought provoking commentary has been written on this subject. If you haven’t followed the subject, here are some posts worth a read:

• Veteran alt-journalist Bill Wyman, in a piece in the web magazine Splice Today (headed by New York Press founder Russ Smith) summarizes the challenges of the newspapers in five easy pieces. His two-part essay, Five Key Reasons Why Newspapers Are Failing (one here and two here) takes aim at claims of civic virtue.
• Chris O’Brien, a business reporter at the San Jose Mercury News, contributing to the MediaShift blog, wrote one of the best explanations I have ever read about the inherent fallacy of the paid-content issue.
• In response to O’Brien’s post, and in further exploring the concept of the so called “original sin” committed by newspapers, Steve Buttry C3 Coach at Gazette Communications in Cedar Rapids, Iowa wrote a thought provoking post that basically summed up why the original sin in the newspaper model was more about failing to innovate rather than about failing to charge for content.  I agree with him wholeheartedly.
• In another post from Chris O’Brien, he advocates more of a anecdotal and observational approach to problem solving and innovation rather than a pure numbers approach which can often obscure the important lessons of the way people behave.  This struck a chord with me.  While I certainly value data and models as part of the analysis and planning process, I have found that anecdotes often provide me better insights into how to creatively solve a problem than numbers do.  In his post,  he states: ” I don’t believe there’s a magic data set waiting to be assembled that will lead us to the big “Ah-ha!” I don’t think we’re one reader survey away from figuring it all out. We live in an era where people turn to data as a crutch, leaning on it to give themselves a false sense of certainty. The facts don’t lie, right? Except we know that they do. A lot of such data is formed by the biases and frames through which the questions are formulated, asked, and then interpreted. The newspaper business has failed to recognize its own flawed frames. To this day, no matter what you hear from a newspaper executive, they still believe their primary purpose is to get people to read them in print. It’s why newspapers still spend so much money propping up circulation by subsidizing a large number of people through persistent telemarketing.”

The cost per tweet (CPT) will run an advertiser between $2 and $30,000 per tweet for a 140 character message.  About 5% of the 200 tweeters are celebs.  Every link is 100% trackable with the integration of Google Analytics. 

Twitter again is getting the raw end of the deal because they won’t make a dime off of this model.  Everyone else is making money off of Twitter except for the company itself.  I think this could potentially be a lucrative model, but if I were Twitter I would find a way to get a cut from this and everyone else.  I guess that’s the beauty of technology though. 

I want to know what the Twitter Universe thinks about this possible new CPT model introducing advertisers on their turf.  Will it affect your overall experience with Twitter?  

Let me know your thoughts.

It really amazes me how sexualized the fast food industry has become over the years.  What happened to the good ole’ characters like Ronald McDonald, Hamburglar and Grimace?  Now B-list celebs are the main characters in barely there outfits on top of cars eating burgers.  I get the whole “play to your audience” strategy and buzz worthiness, but do we all really need to be subjected to this crap?  There is a difference between being edgy and being repulsive.

Burger King really takes the cake with their new ad running in Singapore (pictured here and wasn’t created by Crispin Porter).  It references the word “blow” and the wide open mouth of a lady with a seven inch sandwich in front of her.  What message is this exactly sending?  Pretty disgusting if you ask me.

Burger King isn’t the only offender in this sad display of marketing.  Carl’s Jr, Hardee’s and Quiznos all get thrown in the pot as well.  Paris Hilton, Padma Lakshmi, Audrina Patridge and many other women have shown skin all in an effort to sell more burgers and sandwiches for these huge corporations.

What is the psychology behind this anyway?  Do guys think they are going to get this “hot” girl if they eat at one of these fast food chains?  Do women see someone skinny like Paris Hilton eating a burger and think I could too?   Don’t get me wrong I am always up for some risqué ads but sometimes it’s a little too much.

So why the decline?  Experts blame private labels and temporary price reductions.  “Temporary” price reductions are more likely to reduce brand loyality and encourage brand switching long term.  Also, many consumers who have traded down to store brands tend not to come back to the major brands.  Don’t get confused though, private labels are feeling the pinch as well.

So are any brands out there holding on to their loyalists?  The answer is yes.  Coca-Cola Classic, Folgers and Thomas’ English Muffins each kept more than 60% of their loyal consumers from 2007.  Many tout competitive product pricing and aggressive marketing efforts for their success.  All of these companies have kept a steady marketing presence through this recession staying top of mind with the consumer.

The package-goods industry is certainly becoming more competitive with private labels having a stronger presence.  I say let the battle rage on between the big guys and private labels and maybe we will all get a break.

One of my favorite producers and dear friends, Alan Siegel of November Films: http://www.novemberfilms.com/, visited Omaha this week with an extremely gifted documentary filmmaker, Chris Taylor to unveil his new film called “Food Fight:” http://www.foodfightthedoc.com/ The viewing was sponsored by Alegent Healthcare and this was a true testament to how certain foods and food habits have affected our entire country in not so good ways. (diabetes, obesity, cancers, etc)

This is a brilliant film that I would strongly encourage everyone to see. It takes a look at how the American Agricultural food policies developed in the mid 20th century and how various food movements popped up (first starting in California and then spreading to place like Wisconsin, etc.) creating a “counter revolution against big agribusiness.” After WWII, there was a HUGE shift into convenience foods (dehydration, flash freezing, fast food, TV dinners, etc.) Twinkies were being sold as nourishing treats for growing children! Unreal! This movie is fascinating to say the least and you have no other option than to take action with your own food choices. This is more than just creating meal plans and making grocery lists. This is going to take a cultural shift in the way we think.

I am going out on a limb to say it is a life changing movie…it IS. Things you never thought were in your food. No more pink tasteless tomatoes! Fight for the quality of your food! We as a family are personally taking a pledge to CARE about where our food comes from. Buy Fresh, Buy Local is a group that you can contact, at least in the Omaha/NE metro area to find farm fresh whole/organic foods that are near you. http://buylocalnebraska.org/ and on a national level: http://foodroutes.org/

And lastly, you CAN taste a difference if you boil it down to just taste alone. Clean Plate is a whole food restaurant opening this August at the Empty Room: http://cleanplateomaha.wordpress.com/

Start a revolution with your food and your life!!

The big question posed in the story is:

“As bloggers have increased in numbers, the number of journalists has significantly declined. In Washington alone, there are now 79% fewer DC-based employees of major newspapers than there were just few years ago. At the same time, Washington is easily the most blogged-about city in America, if not the world...How long can nearly 500,000 people who are gradually replacing whole swaths of journalists survive with no worker protections, no enforced ethics codes, limited standards, and, for most , no formal training?”

His stats were culled from the Technorati poll and Bureau of Labor Statistics, but based on the comments on the story, many bloggers question those stats or the presumptions of the dollars earned via blogging.

Thought provoking and obviously controversial, but worth a read because it makes you think about how the news model is rapidly changing around the world.

KFC uses the latest take on cause-marketing to build brand equity and enhance their reputation.  The toilet paper giant Charmin has also tapped into cause-marketing as a way to build their brand.  Charmin actually developed an application for iPhone and BlackBerry that helps consumers find toilets when the need arises. 

This type of cause-marketing is completely different than what we have seen numerous companies do with the new marketing trend of “Job-loss protection” over the past few months.  Companies like JoS.A.BANK, Hyundai and JetBlue Airways all offer job-loss protection for the consumer, but they still require that you make a purchase first.  JetBlue Airways, for example, is offering a refund if you have to cancel a trip because you were let go.  KFC and Charmin, on the other hand, are giving back to the community to show goodwill and hopefully convert this into increased revenue and brand loyalty. 

More and more corporations are looking to cause-marketing in this economic climate when ad budgets are tight.  The trick is to find your niche and make it extremely relevant to your consumer.

There’s confusion, trepidation, and a general feeling of being overwhelmed.  Add to that the pressure to get more bang for your marketing buck in today’s economic climate and the anxiety increases.

More and more companies need or want to expand their visibility online.   To be found where people look.  That often means tapping the potential of social media, but they don’t know how to enter the conversation or are paralyzed because of a stumble.  We’ve heard tales of being banned from Digg, kicked off Facebook, deleted from Wikipedia, stumped by Twitter, slammed by bloggers or caught off guard by employee comments in cyberspace.  We hear the the same question over and over, “What do I do?” And the dozens of books, hundreds of articles and thousands of web pages dedicated to the subject only seem to make it feel more overwhelming.

So we’ve developed this series of seminars, starting with social media marketing, to go beyond theory and platitudes to practical applications to answer your questions and give you tips you can put to work immediately.  We also have sessions scheduled that will focus on increasing your visibility on search engines and on smart marketing tips to turn data into intelligence and insights. You’ll take away not only a better understanding, but also a little peace of mind  and some tools to get you started.

Why the Sausage Factory name?  Because it fits (and it sounded better than Bozell Seminars).  People once referred to marketing like a recipe for soup — a little of this, a little of that, add a little seasoning, simmer it for a while and you’ve got a meal.  Now it’s not nearly so neat or orderly and time to simmer…fat chance.  It’s all about now.  And piecemeal doesn’t cut it anymore.  It has to all be ground together to create something cohesive and tightly integrated.  It really is like making sausage. It’s messy.  But at the end of the day, it’s much tastier and more popular at parties because it’s centered on the consumer.  Could the name Sausage Factory raise a few eyebrows?  You bet.  But that itself is part of what the marketing game is about today.  To have a voice, a point of view, something that might be worth talking about.  Check it out:  www.sausagefactoryseminars.com or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SausageFactory.

“The Wall Street Journal’s print edition and The New York Times Online will both introduce new elements Thursday morning as The Journal makes a play for new ad revenue and The Times tries to increase its allure to web surfers.

The Journal is running an advertiser’s cover wrap on Thursday for the first time in its history, covering one-third of the front page and all of the back with an ad for Dell. Cover wraps are common among New York City’s Post and Daily News tabloids; just Tuesday, the Daily News distributed copies free to commuters wrapped in ads for the new Tomb Raider video game. But The Journal has traditionally declined to obscure its front page with overlaid ads.

Michael Rooney, chief revenue officer at Journal parent Dow Jones, said the move was part of an ongoing series of recent changes, and not just since Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. bought the company. “We launched the Weekend Edition, we launched Personal Journal,” he said. “There’s lots that has happened over the last five years.”

Dell and its agency Enfatico are pulling out of some long-term magazine buys, but remain heavy users of print advertising.

The Times Online, meanwhile, is finally activating Times Extra, an alternate view of the home page that offers links to related coverage from other news sources and blogs. Using the home page, some of the most valuable real estate on the internet, to link to competitors such as Fox News, The Wall Street Journal Online and the BBC will mark a big departure for the news brand that many consider the newspaper of record.

That’s a big part of the point, of course, as Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and other Times executives told Ad Age over the summer. The broader idea is to weave the Times more tightly into the internet by making its content friendlier to application developers, building community and offering links even beyond its border.”

Source:  AdAge MediaWorks

The agency has enjoyed particularly robust growth in the last several years, as the expansion of cable ad interconnects allows the NCC to reach 99 percent of wired cable homes in some 132 markets.

Jointly owned by three of the nation’s largest MSOs (Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox Communications), the New York-based NCC reps all of the major cable operators, as well as DirecTV and Verizon’s FiOS TV.

“This is a proud day,” said Greg Schaefer, NCC president, by way of announcing the milestone. “The confidence and support that our client and ad agency customers have show is a testament to the special value they place on cable television’s array of programming, geographic and consumer targeting, and exclusive digital advertising platforms.”

I say go the “Schooner Tuna” route from the 1983 comedy hit Mr. Mom and show consumers that you also feel the hard impact of the economy and are there for them in this time of uncertainty.  Of course this can be applied easier to consumer goods but this approach can also work for any marketer.  Whether you are offering a two-for-one offer, a free night’s stay, mail in rebates or special financing this relays to the consumer that your company cares and is stable.

Marketing examples from the Depression Era

Proctor and Gamble – This is a company which has a philosophy of not reducing advertising budgets during times of recession and they certainly did not make any such reduction during the Depression. P&G has made progress in every one of the major recessions and that is no accident. When their competitors were swinging the budget axe, P&G actually increased their spending. While the Depression caused problems for many, P&G came out of it unscathed. Radio took P&G’s message into more homes than ever.

Chevrolet – During the 1920s, Fords were outselling Chevrolets by 10 to 1. In spite of the Depression, Chevrolet continued to expand its advertising budget and by 1931, the “Chevy 6” took the lead in its field and remained there for the next five years.

Bottom line is this is exactly the time to go full throttle with ad dollars and gain much coveted marketshare.