This week Scott Rowe and Nathan Anderson or Bozell discuss three interesting topics. When iOS 6 is released Apple will no longer be leveraging Google Maps data. Streaming entertainment has increased dramatically and traditional cable networks are beginning to require cable subscription verification in order to allow online video streaming. On the mobile sales front they guys will discuss how iPads have now become responsible for 4% of total retail revenue. Share your thoughts on the blog or on the Bozell Youtube Channel.

Click HERE to check out previous episodes of Eternal Beta.

Gumroad is a new online sales portal that only charges a small amount to use the services. According to the website, it’s a fixed fee of 25 cents plus a 5% charge of sale price per item sold. However, there is no monthly fee and each product gets a custom product URL. If the item doesn’t sell, no one loses any additional money. Although the product producer might experience some embarrassment without sales because the only way anyone knows about an available product is when the producer shares the URL. There is no store, virtual or otherwise, to explore, but content can be shared in all online social spaces.

The concept and site inventor, Sahil Lavingia, felt there was a need to share small cost items for sale, such as an original poem or song, without large overhead costs. The site even lets you limit the number of sales possible if you want to produce a specific number of items. Other online seller opportunities made small cost items pointless when fees can be greater than the cost of an item.

I haven’t seen any links to products through Gumroad yet. Have you?

ComScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, and Pretarget, an intent targeting company, confirmed results of an online advertising study where they analyzed more than 260 million ad impressions across 18 campaigns and tracked numerous conversions – from filling out online forms, to downloading software, to actual purchases. This analysis found that ad viewability and hover time are more strongly correlated with conversions than clicks or total impressions.

The results showed that ad hover/interaction (correlation = 0.49) and viewable impressions (correlation = 0.35) had the highest correlation with conversion, while gross impressions (correlation = 0.17) was considerably lower. Most interestingly, clicks (correlation = 0.01) had the lowest correlation with conversion.

Strong strides are currently being made in the digital media world in regards to new measurement metrics and accountability of “viewership.”  This is good for advertisers whose primary KPI is exposure, the ability to see the ad is paramount, because if you can’t see the ad you sure as heck can’t interact with it, let alone click it.

When reading over these new findings, it goes to show that advertisers and media planners ought to break their dependence on counting clicks for success and look into more significant metrics for evaluating online campaign performance, i.e. viewablity and interaction rate.  It is time for folks in the industry to start determining the impact of campaigns by using metrics that matter, not just the ones that are easy to measure.

The traditional way of buying online impressions and hoping for conversions (aka “spray and pray”) is no longer the most effective approach. Making sure your ads are in view among your target audience with engaging creative that speaks to them, is the true way to convert your branding campaign into customers.

In this latest episode of Bozell’s video podcast, Eternal Beta, Scott Rowe and Nathan Anderson discuss some new things from Apple. Scott covers how Apple is currently in a testing mode for a cloud based backup system for their stores. Nathan talks about some interesting insights into what will happen when Apples Mobile Me goes away and how they are trying to seamlessly get their customers into their new operating upgrade.

Social media site popularity should naturally change over time, but Pinterest has grown very quickly. The website only launched a year ago, in April of 2011. Traffic increased 50% from January to February 2012 alone.

But, wait, what is Pinterest? According to the website:

Pinterest is a Virtual Pinboard.

Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes.

Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.

Most fascinating is that the site minimizes user interaction and yet is one of the most popular social spaces. It fits a real need for people who want to be inspired, save inspiration, and even organize it. However, the user base is more likely to be female. Women are drawn to the network to be inspired. There are certainly men in the space, just not necessarily with the same passion. In fact, I have seen several posts by men in Facebook saying they “don’t get it.” Considering people once said the same about Facebook, Pinterest must be doing things right.

In addition, Pinterest can be a lot of fun for businesses. If Pinterest fits into your brand personality, it could help expose you to new customers in fun ways. There is even some preliminary research about how to share:

1. Make sure images are beautiful
2. Make sure images are uncluttered
3. Don’t put price with image, let interested people add the price
4. Follow other social media guidelines for not overwhelming people

In the first episode of our marketing show, Eternal Beta, Scott Rowe and Scott Bishop discuss the recent sale of Instagram to Facebook and what that can possibly mean for marketers.  Scott Rowe also dives into the new Amazon search product. Some say Amazon is going after Google, but Scott provides his evaluation of what Amazon is really up to.

In this episode of the Bozell Marketing Show, the Scotts spend some time chatting about the Google Glass Project. Google recently released a video featuring some futuristic augmented reality glasses and gave us a sneak peak at what that experience might be like. We have our own insights and opinions about the good, bad, and ugly of these new glasses. We talk about how our lives are currently connected into data and digital experiences already and if these new glasses would help make our lives become more manageable or even more busy.

Links: Google Glass Project Video  (original) /  Parody Video For Glass Project

Do you think these are a good idea or see trouble down the road with the functionality?

Omaha World-Herald Article

In this episode the Scotts discuss the new Facebook Timeline change for brand pages and the exploding adoption rates of smart phones in the U.S.  Facebook recently made the switch to move over all brand pages to the timeline format, we discuss some of the implications this will have on brands and how they interact with their audience. Our second topic explores how smart phone usage in the U.S. is exploding and what that means for opportunities and challenges for marketers.

In the final recap video for the 2012 SXSW, the Scott’s discuss if advertising agencies should begin to act more like technology startup companies. There are many digital agencies who are weighing whether or not to jump into creating their own products or to remain in the same business model of waiting for their clients to assign projects. The Scott’s go over both the positive aspects and challenges that this could bring an advertising agency.

Leo meant a great deal to a lot of people who worked at Bozell over the years. The stories about Leo and Lee Iacocca were fascinating. And occasionally we were privy to special incentive programs to buy Chrysler cars — that’s how I bought my first one and today I still drive a Chrysler, albeit a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.

As a tribute and to honor him in memoriam, David Wojdyla (who was ECD at Bozell’s Chicago office when I first met him) had a brilliant idea to harness social media. So he went to work in creating a ‘first’.

Here it is, from the Bozell Alumni LinkedIn Group:  presenting the world’s first congrats ad by a social media discussion group (for a mad man posthumously inducted into the AAF Advertising Hall of Fame)

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Thank you David for putting this together! Leo would love it. I’m glad to see so many familiar faces again.

The Scotts are back and sharing some insights about some of their two favorite sessions at this year’s SXSW. Scott Rowe covers mobile marketing and discusses QR codes and NFC (Near Field Communication). Scott Bishop focuses on marketing and discusses a panel regarding consumer behaviors.

Stay tuned for more videos as we plan on creating more around the topics of social and digital marketing.

Cash mobs are a more recent type of mob. The idea is to share one is happening at a locally owned business through social media (Twitter and Facebook). The participating mob is expected to arrive with $20 each and spend the money at the business to support the local economy. In addition, participants are expected meet at least three people they didn’t know before the event and have fun. A recent article highlights the Cash Mob purpose.

Carrot mobs have been around for a few years, but are not quite as famous as flash mobs, yet. This kind of mob focuses on helping raise money for environmentally friendly improvements to local businesses. When a business agrees to participate, it promises to dedicate a large portion of profits from the event to implementing a socially responsible change to the establishment, such as lighting or roofing improvements. Something special is planned and advertised with the anticipated improvement to drawn in locals and encourage them to spend money. I have been to two of these events and both had live music, lots of food and drink to buy, and I met new people. I found the events to be a lot of fun.

Any of these mobs could help a local business or non-profit meet several goals. Exposure, fundraising or profit increases, and positive experiences with locals are only a few possible benefits.

The Scott’s recap some of their insights and thoughts about what they learned during SXSW this year. It was a whirlwind trip packed with nonstop tech sessions followed by good ole Austin fun…yet somehow the Scott’s managed to take away some solid insights.  Learn more by watching our quick video.

National Puppy Day started in 2006 and the purpose is to raise awareness about:

• The inhumane treatment of dogs in puppy mills
• The millions of unwanted dogs and cats euthanized every year
• How spaying and neutering dogs prevents the birth of additional unwanted puppies
• The hundreds of dogs available for adoption all over the country and in your town

But we like today because it’s one more reason to love on our dogs!

If interested in celebrating National Puppy Day by providing a forever home to an amazing dog, check out one of our favorite shelters, Hearts United for Animals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lvB0LuIxXqs

JCP has launched an ambitious new campaign to connect with customers. The basic idea is to be more transparent with pricing. Clarity and predictability should help people feel they are getting good prices, no matter what day they enter the store. Seems like a good idea. Although, any new pricing structure that needs explanation might have at least some initial trouble.

In addition to changing pricing, the brand has augmented their name, logo, and slogan. Considering the logo has changed three times in three years, confusing customers is a real concern. But will it work? Will JCP be able to pull ahead with the new strategy? Lots of people have been asking this question and only time will be able reveal the answer. However, there are several factors contributing to success or failure.

One blog post in particular highlights how even though the strategy seems smart, it might not work. The author feels the prices are lower, but is unsure how prices will be augmented over time (read here). JCP has a strong history of coupons and customers have come to expect them, as illustrated in the comments to the post. We also know that couponing is “As American as Apple Pie,” at least according to the recent results of a Valpak survey of women. So for the time being, JCP is breaking their own culture and the current coupon culture.

Another possible obstacle lies in showrooming. Finding an item in one store and buying it elsewhere is becoming a real concern for retailers in general.

The ubiquity of smart phones and tablets is making this practice more commonplace. JCP has a product line that many feel can be found in other stores and thus the value becomes more important.

In addition, competitors to JCP are struggling. Kmart, that once inspired Walmart, and Sears are both shutting doors and Filene’s Basement is closing altogether. Even Wal-Mart is downsizing square footage in some markets. Granted, much of the current situation in retail is due to shopping changes from the economic downturn. However, as I have advocated before, the brands that help customers succeed in hard times are more likely to succeed in all times. Now that the economy seems to be picking up, will the new strategy help JCP succeed? According to BIGinsight, only about two in five people think the idea is “hot.”

On the bright side, some are rooting for JCP. It is a brand they have valued and trusted for a long time. Of course, that is true for some customers of Sears too. People don’t necessarily want the stores they have shopped for years to go away, they just want to have a good experience and know they have gotten the best value.

There are several reasons the new positioning may fail for JCP, but the fact that people want it to succeed might change the odds. Forthcoming JCP changes could also help the new strategy succeed, since “fair and square” is only part of a larger plan. Again, only time will reveal if the new positioning will inspire customers and increase sales.

As one of the featured agencies, cameras followed Bozell for 10 days, capturing brainstorming, planning, concepting and much more as we prepared to go head-to-head against another agency for a piece of real business. Congratulations to our team for their hard work and creative inspirations!

The first episode of “The Pitch” will air at 10 p.m. locally on April 8, following a new episode of “Mad Men.” The episode featuring Bozell is scheduled to air on Memorial Day, May 28, at 9 p.m. locally. Stay tuned for more details as we get closer to the airing of our episode later in the season.

“The Pitch” Press Info

AMC Press Kit
Forbes.com

Kim Mickelsen, Managing Partner
Besides running an advertising agency, Kim remains heavily involved in bringing big ideas to many of Bozell’s clients. With almost 30 years in the game, Kim uses her deep experience to help companies build their brands and reach customers with wicked-smart communication insights – a skill she learned while working with juggernaut brands like Arby’s, YWCA, Mid-American Energy, and the NCAA.

Jerry Stoner, Executive Creative Director
A passion for creativity. That’s exactly what drove Jerry to pursue acting. And it’s exactly what made him leave Hollywood for the bright lights of advertising. For 25 years, Jerry has been creating, producing and occasionally voicing commercials for a wide range of regional and national brands. You want all-star experience? Jerry’s past clients include the likes of McDonald’s, Chevrolet, Hyundai and Domino’s Pizza. And with every client he works on, Jerry insists on not only good creative, but good creative that sees results.

Scott Rowe, Partner in Charge of Digital Marketing
Most people don’t speak the language of technology and digital marketing. But Scott isn’t just fluent in it, he’s a master at it. And he uses his expertise to help Bozell’s clients solve their marketing problems on the digital front. From data analysis, mobile marketing, SEO and more, Scott is a leader in effectively taking a company’s communications into the digital world. And if you want a second opinion on his talents, just ask Mooney Aircraft, Timex, M&M Mars and the NCAA Men’s College World Series.

Scott Bishop, Director of Social Media
While most of us use Facebook and Twitter to connect with friends, Scott uses social media to connect brands with people and people with brands. And Bozell isn’t the only one tapping into his skills. He’s been published in the Chicago Tribune, Time Out Chicago, Shout Omaha and on the world’s biggest social media website, Mashable.com. He has also published two social media marketing books for the Financial Times Press.

Bryan Mohr, Senior Copywriter
Bryan lives by the idea that creativity is subjective but intelligence is not. Which is why Bryan’s goal is to always come up with big ideas that are not only creative, but also smart-as-hell. That mentality might also explain why Bryan has his masters in business administration. And he’s put his intelligence to good use, creating award-winning advertising for some of the region’s largest clients, such as First National Bank, the NCAA Men’s College World Series and Omaha Public Power District.

Ryan Dillon, Associate Creative Director/Art Director
A picture is worth 1,000 words. And Ryan is one of the best in the area at making sure his images are saying the right things. Ryan believes in visual story telling that drives people to act. And for a dozen years, Ryan has been doing just that for clients like Kellogg’s, McDonald’s, Disney and the University of Southern California. And if you ever question whether his approach works, just look at the numerous awards on his trophy case.

Nathan Anderson, Information Architect
When Nathan talks about web development, only a few people know what the hell he’s saying. But once people see the results of his skills, they’re speechless. With his vast experience in developing software applications, programming, and building custom databases, Nathan has a gift for turning the impossible into a reality. And he can fit 23 pieces of Bazooka Joe in his mouth.

John Bernardin, Senior Art Director
When you’ve spent 20-plus years at big agencies, big ideas flow like Alex Bogusky’s hair. And for John, those big ideas are only as good as the visuals that support them. Which is exactly why he’s mastered the art of advertising, using his talents to create TV, Print and Interactive campaigns for some of the biggest household names in the world, like Nissan, Infiniti, Hyundai and Hickory Farms.

Deanna Meyler, Ph.D., Director of Strategic Planning and Insights
Some people were just born to do their job. And those that realize it devote their life to being the absolute best. Say “Hello” to Deanna. With a Ph.D in sociology, Deanna has spent her academic and professional career studying how and why people act. She has a deep passion for research and building strategy, and she’s gotten damn good at it. But that’ll happen when you earn your stripes working with such clients as Texas Tourism, Omni Hotels and Bausch & Lomb.

Brian Wetjen, Partner in Charge of Interactive
When the Internet was spawned from Al Gore’s rib, Brian was right there with his computer and notepad ready to be one of the forefathers of web development in Omaha. At Bozell, he is the brains behind every website that’s produced, making sure it’s smart, pretty and enjoyable to use. If making awesome websites were an orchestra, Brian would be the conductor.

There are a handful of apps that take geo-location to the next level. Instead of simply broadcasting your location like on Foursquare, these apps actually pin point your location and then let you know if there are others around you that you may be interested in connecting with. The three most popular of these services that I heard the most come up in conversation this week was Sonar, Glancee, and Highlight. Sonar analyzes your Foursquare, Facebook and Twitter connections to locate if notify you if any friends or even friends of friends are nearby. Highlig.ht lets you see when your Facebook contacts are around, and the Glancee app locates people with similar interests that are within your vicinity.

Given the nature of the SXSW conference, these apps are actually pretty helpful. The challenge for these new apps is that while there can be use and interest at the biggest tech conference; they need to stay relevant and serve a purpose throughout the rest of the year. I find that that will be a challenge.

There is a great purpose to locate friends and contacts when you’re all running around trying to figure out where the best party is at, who’s giving out free beer, and where you can find a food truck without an hour long wait. But SXSW is not reality. It’s a techy and digital marketers dream week that provides some of the best opportunities to meet with contacts you only know from your social media networks or have read about.

But will anyone, or at least a big enough number of people find use for this when they go home? My guess is no. The truth is that a relatively decent percentage of our “friends” on Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare are just contacts at best. If I emailed everyone on my Facebook friend list there are quite a few who would have to look at my profile to even remember how we are “friends”. Twitter is even more obscure. When you have this many people who you are just some what familiar with tracking down your movements, security and safety issues arise (especially for women).

If you get the most die-hard of the die-hard social media people and first adopters all gathered in the same city at the same time then I think these apps have a strong future.  If not, these apps will have a tough time breaking into the general public.

One key to marketing and business success is to analyze and understand why something is working, and then apply that understanding to your own projects. This “something” can be in your own industry but in many cases it will not be.

The first example the presenter provided was in an area where many businesses fail, the complexity of choice. The study he used was an experiment to determine if having more choices or less choices was helpful for a consumer and which one lead to an increase in revenue. 

The setup for the choice study was using a table at a grocery store and offering 24 samples of jam versus a sample table with only six choices. Throughout the experiment the table with 24 samples brought in more people who wanted a sample, but the overall sales were actually smaller than the table with six samples. The learning being, overwhelming choice decreases conversion rate. An enormous amount of choices can actually be roadblocks to sales.

Now if you work at a grocery store or for a jam company, this example is fantastic. If you don’t, the study is still valuable. In this case, the presenter applied it to his e-commerce company and they simply lowered the amount of product choices that they offered shoppers and they increased both conversion rates and sales.

The takeaway from the presewntation is that you need to be looking beyond your own business category for improving your business. Expand your knowledge to see what successful businesses are doing, apply the concept, and you’ll reap the reswards as well.

We are at the cusp of a fundamental change in our society where are large part of the population will regularly use their smart phone to shop and compare, not only when out of store but also while in store. This adds an entire new layer on top of the consumers mobile interaction with brick and mortar stores. These businesses have understood the great need for mobile optimized content and shopping experiences and have delivered very well in many cases. But with this new real time change in consumer behaviors these same companies need to setup up their efforts.

One technique that has been discussed for the past couple of years is QR codes. These are easily scan-able matrix images that can take a user to a specific URL online. This content could be a web page, ecommerce experience or even a video. The upside of this methodology is the content does not need to exist within the store itself. This new third screen can educate and sell. Companies also have the option of updating the destination of any QR code at any time. Therefore in-store installations and shelf talkers don’t need to be replaced when a promotion changes.

Another new technology in the very early stages of adoption is NFC or near field communications. This is an actual chip embedded within a smartphone that triggers an application or action when it comes within a certain physical proximity to a transmitter. For example, a customer could approach a television that is currently on sale. The smartphone would automatically receive the signal from the NFC transmitter and present the customer with information about the product including features and a discount for purchasing that very day. This is just one simple example of how the NFC technology could be used.

The big change that us as marketers truly need to understand is that consumers are beginning to enhance their own shopping experience using their devices and services such as ShopSavvy. Traditional brick and mortar stores need to look at embracing this trend and technology moving into the future so that they can begin to craft truly custom and immersive experiences within their stores. By leveraging critical data such as rewards member databases they will be able to customize each customers experience directly to that person. Presenting customers with the most relevant products based on past purchase behaviors, or projecting interest based on specific segment metrics.

The thought that Internet base stores will kill traditional stores hasn’t become a reality with only 5% of all purchases happening online. This means that traditional stores now have the ability to grow their businesses using technology that isn’t even applicable to their online competition.

While breaking out through his unique story telling abilities debuting with Clerks in the mid-nineties, his passion to tell stories through film waned in the late 2000s. He felt that he had already told all of the stories he had inside eithin that format. Therefore making the difficult financial decision of walking away from film and pursue other avenues. 

He currently produces and stars in his Smodcast show with childhood friend and Producer Scott Mosier. The show started as a simple weekly podcast but has grown into a very powerful format and the two along with Jason Mewes travel the country selling out venues and performing their show live. The show currently has over. 100,000 weekly listeners.

The new business has finally allowed Smith to once again enjoy some financial success however as he puts it, it isn’t the crack that is movie money.

He cued in on how you if you truly engage with your internal passion you will ultimately find a level of success. Ultimately you must follow your muse and serve the artist inside of you. This mantra has allowed him to continually evolve his businesses and keep him excited about this work.

Well yesturday at SXSW, I witnessed maybe the single greatest example of this philosophy. Meat (bad pun intended), the Epic Meal Time boys. 

If you’re unfamiliar with Epic Meal Time, think of them as the anti-Food Network. Each week they upload videos to YouTube about making meals that make the even most glutonous among us jealous with envy. For example, their Meatball Deathstar packs a whopping +14,000 calories and over 1,000 grams of fat. The Fast Food Lasagna has a layer that consists of 15 Big Macs, meat sauce, and is completely covered in bacon.

In addition to cooking ridiculous or “epic” meals, these “chefs” are generously partaking in seasoning their meals and mouths with liquor.

Now if this sounds like a bunch of buddies video taping each other sitting around an apartment, drinking booze, and eating bacon…well that’s exactly what it is. But don’t let them fool you, their YouTube channel has more than 46,500,000 views. For reference that’s more than 8x the population of New York City.

I find these videos kinda hilarious and have been a fan for awhile. But being at SXSW and it being a learning experience I was interested in hearing what kind of marketing or business advice they might share so I went to their panel, appropriately titled “Meat is Might: Epic Meal Time Rules the Web”.

The panel was as ridiculous as I expected, but there was some solid advice that was shared:

1. The most important aspect to their success was consistency:The key to Youtube is consistency, which is not that much differnet than other web platforms. They consistently upload good content on a regular schedule that their audience loves.

2. Understand your audience: For a bunch of guys having fun, they spoke in length about the tremendous detail they spend on the analytics portion of youtube. They constantly monitor where their audience is most engaged and where their audience quits watching. Over time they’ve identified trends that allow them to produce videos that are exactly what their audience wants.

3. Do something you love: They explained this as…if you do what you love, the monetization aspect is much less important. If you enjoy doing it, you’ll continue to create videos because it’s fun, not because you’re trying to get paid. If you are only trying to get paid, you’ll eventually end up quitting.

4. Don’t give up: Success does not come fast and often not the first time you try it. In this case, this niche was the fourth channel they made. Stick with it and don’t give up.

Pretty solid advice but this is also a business. In addition to ad revenue they get from Youtube, Epic Meal Time also has live events and a TV pilot in the works. Epic indeed. We’ll keep reporting back, but now I’m off to go eat some bacon.

I found the belief intriguing in that as marketers we are also story tellers. Yet, it is very common for a brand’s messaging to become very thin. Ultimately we want consumers to respond to the story of a brand. How can they truly feel pulled and engaged if the story we tell is incomplete or borderline irrelevant? Perhaps we should take more cues from the creative visionaries within the entertainment industries. When a film is launched they really have one chance to connect with their customers. If they fail it will lead poor box office performance and a loss in revenue. In advertising you may have more opportunities depending on your budget but the need for financial success is still the same. 

Joss also talked about his passion for different types of projects. For example he went straight form Directing the new Avengers movie to creating Much ado about nothing on a tiny  budget the following month. He has also worked on writing the graphic novel version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the past few years and is planning a web based series next. Having the ability to constantly move from one type of execution to another gives him the ability to learn more rapidly and become more flexible in his thinking and execution.

As a marketer I find this type of thinking refreshing. So many brands and agencies consistently work on the same types of projects for similar companies in similar industies. Not allowing yourself or your company to flex its creative and conceptual juices keeps you from consistently expanding your knowledge and potential. Make sure you give yourself a chance to mix things up and push to become a better thinker and executor.

Video curation is becoming ever more important with the vast amounts of content being created by consumers and brands. 60 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. That’s one hour of content per second. How can we truly be presented with the most relevant content based on our habits and interests.

At this point in time Humans have the greatest ability to cue in on what types of content would truly be shareable and with the potential to go viral. It is part of our social DNA. We are a part of our culture and therefore grasp how we perceive images and messages. YouTube is testing out algorithms that can look for laughter within video content and hopefully determine if the video is intended to be humorous. This could be partially effective but it can’t account for subtle humor. 

Obviously humor is only one type of content but it is a perfect example of the true complicated nature of content curation. Only the future will tell us if silicon will ever be able to replace the human mind when searching for or being dynamically presented with truly relevant content based on our distinct interests.

Shopper Sciences found several people to wear the special Affectiva wristband during 2011 Black Friday shopping. Many of the findings supported previous research about how anticipating and finding a great deal gets people excited, but standing in line is no fun. Similar for online shoppers, the checkout process showed higher levels of stress.

What is more interesting about this research is how it might be used. The Black Friday study didn’t really find anything new, but what about these possibilities?

• Shopper research in your store: Which isles are more stress inducing? How do each of your locations compare? What about interaction with different sales associates?
• Do different pages on your website cause different levels of stress? Usability testing is super helpful, but this wristband could offer more information that can be difficult to articulate and gathered less obtrusively compared to other non-verbal methods such as eye-tracking.
• How do different people respond to different parts of stores? Amusement parks? Other experience oriented opportunities?

There are some interesting opportunities for this wristband. However, other research methods should continue to be implemented to supplement and explain the results.

The first publicly broadcasted hangout was with the Black Eyed Peas in September of 2011 and others have been playing with the opportunity. This week, Coca-Cola hosted a hangout in their archives.

Only seven people were allowed to be actively engaged during the Coca-Cola hangout while everyone else could watch, listen, and type in questions. There were some great things that happened and some things to be aware of if wanting your brand to hangout with customers.

Things that went well:

• The people visible in the hangout were true Coca-Cola lovers. They had a real passion for the brand and it showed. They were engaged and happy about the event.
• The hosts were clearly passionate and knowledgeable about the archives. They had fun showing different items and centered each piece on the story it tells.
• I personally had fun learning and listening.

Things that did not go so well:

• The image quality of the archive hosts was terrible. Fun history was shared, but no one could see it.
• Non-visible participants were told they could submit questions and answers would be shared during the event. As far as I could tell, none of these questions were addressed.
• Some non-visible participants felt left out based on the comments they shared.
• Some non-visible participants were unsure of the format and how to get involved with everything based on the comments they shared.

Coca-Cola did something different and fun. It was a smart way to uniquely share part of their brand and the visible participants probably feel special for being included. I encourage other brands to be unique in Google+. As a platform that competes with several social medial sites, brands must have a unique idea to stand out in the space and continue to build strong engagement with their customers. However, be mindful of the experience. Make sure everyone can see what you are doing and that no one feels excluded.

So what?

According to Bain & Company, U.S. corporations lose, on average, half of their customers in five years. It’s a slow and quiet exodus that is costly to replenish. In addition, Cint found that 62% of people are more likely to purchase a specific brand if their opinion was sought by that brand. Considering these two important statistics, every brand should be highly motivated to retain and talk to their customers.

Consequently, make it easy for motivated customers to reach you. They could be few, but valuable. A dedicated phone line or email, even social media space can help. If in social media, and you should be, make sure to talk with customers, not just at them. If not in social media, consider that your customers are probably talking about you, without you. In addition, solicit feedback in ways that make the most sense for your brand.

The idea for sharing this story came from here.

A few years back I needed to buy a washing machine. I started with Consumer Reports and found the top ranked washing machine that fit my other criteria. Then I looked for stores that carried that brand. Being a larger than normal purchase for me, I made time to do my research. I visited three different stores and finally decided which washer to buy. Of course, it was in the first store I visited. What I found most interesting was that I looked at the same washing machine three times, but each store called it something different.

My experience is not unusual. Lots of stores carry similar products, but with slight differences, even in the SKU, so that exact comparisons are more difficult. They do this on purpose. It creates exclusivity and encourages people to buy where they trust the store rather than the product alone.

Imagine my surprise to find that Target recently wrote a letter to suppliers wanting exclusive product to compete with online stores. Target already has many unique items, but must always roll the cost of the physical stores into prices. It’s hard to compete with online stores that don’t have showroom costs.

Is the showroom a hindrance? Yes and no. Yes due to cost and no because it’s hard to know exactly how something looks and feels from a photo online. At the same time, if an online store offers a significantly lower price on the exact same product I want and waves shipping costs, the new online shopping expectation, will I wait a few days to have my new toy shipped? It really depends and I imagine many people answer the same way I do.

I see where Target is going with this idea and it will be interesting to watch it unfold. However, continuing to connect with customers so they want to by from Target will remain important. If I trust Target more than a random online store that I am unfamiliar with, I will buy from Target every time. Again, I use myself as the example, but there is some universal truth to how I shop.

Will this change over time? Of course. The popularity of online shopping is growing. There could very well be a day when online is the standard for finding new ideas. Exclusive content may not be the best solution in that space either. For right now, lots of people still start at a physical store or go to a store to verify what they found online. It’s still critical to make sure these customers have a good experience. As things change, it will be important to implement market research that explores how and why people are making the shift in order for physical stores to continue to compete. It’s an exciting time.

Mashable did a nice timeline: The Week That Killed SOPA: A Timeline

This battle is over, for now. But more bills will come. Because the piracy problem is far from over.

What a difference a day makes.

A day where many people learned about these bills because they encountered a black bar over the Google logo and a link to the petition, or a notice on blacked out Wikipedia or Boing Boing or CraigsList or Cheezburger. Some reports say more than 7,000 sites went dark Wednesday in protest of SOPA, but I’m not sure anyone has a solid number. What’s more concrete, is that as of 11pm Wednesday evening, Google had almost 9,000 news stories indexed about SOPA/PIPA for the last 24 hour period.

Google

Wikipedia

Boing Boing

Mozilla

Bozell

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) called Wednesday’s blackout a gimmick. They can call it what they want, but it not only brought the issue to the publics’ attention very rapidly, it also spurred people to take action. More than 4.5 million people signed their name to the Google petition on Wednesday. And according to protest organizers, over 300,000 people emailed or called lawmakers.

That’s not trivial.

And lawmakers reacted.

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida renounced PIPA, which he had co-sponsored. Texas Senator John Cornyn, who leads the GOP’s Senate campaign efforts, used Facebook to urge colleagues to slow the bill down. And South Carolina Republican Senator Jim DeMint announced his opposition on Twitter.

As the day went on, it gained momentum and more and more lawmakers renounced their support, inncluding Mark Kirk of Illinois, Roy Blunt of Missouri, Orrin Hatch of Utah, John Boozman of Arkansas and Chuck Grassley of Iowa as well as Ben Quayle of Arizona. Lee Terry, who had co-sponsored SOPA, announced Tuesday he would pull his name off as co-sponsor. Nebraska’s Jeff Fortenberry and Mike Johanns told the Journal Star on Wednesday they won’t support the bill. In all, at least 10 senators and nearly twice that many House members announced their opposition.

Nothing like this has happened before. If you think about it, many sites that went dark lost a lot of money today. So powerful was the priority to fight SOPA/PIPA that it trumped the business mission of these sites.

But it’s important to clarify that opposition was to the specific bills SOPA/PIPA and worrisome provisions within them, not to the concept that online piracy is a problem that must be addressed. Wrong solutions.

In fact, there’s another bill out there — the Senate’s Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN) which aims for middle ground by putting enforcement in the hands of the International Trade Commission, a quasi-government agency that already investigates counterfeit imports and trade-secret violations.

The blackout is now history, but the issues, discussions and work to be done to solve the problem are far from over.

The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States – the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate – that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet.

If you’re not familiar with SOPA, you should be, and can read an explanation on Wikipedia.  Although by the time I post this, most likely Wikipedia will be dark in protest.  CNN also did a basic write up of SOPA – What it is and why it matters.

While we support the bill’s stated goals and don’t condone piracy, we can not support the bill as currently drafted because of the potential implications for internet censorship and how it could impact what we’ve all come to value so much — open online dialogue. A point of view we shared in a newscast on Monday. We believe the bill’s backers lack a clear understanding of the Internet’s architecture, and don’t fully grasp the negative implications of the bill they’re considering.

SOPA is the wrong solution.

We move away from those aspects of the old year that were less than ideal in the hope of a more rewarding future. Our goodbyes are facilitated by year-end rituals that leave us feeling bittersweet – auld lang syne.

Having a Happy New Year?

Unfortunately, the creators of every gimmicky weight loss and exercise schtick imaginable somehow got the impression that shedding the excess weight that we’ve been grudgingly lugging around as part of our past – whether longstanding or a result of holiday binge-ing – is an integral part of the season and its rituals. They remind us of this torturous fact about 1,000 times a day throughout the holidays and well into the New Year.

That means the majority of us in the already stressful throes of ‘tidings and good cheer’ are bombarded by youthful and slammin’ bikini clad nymphets or recently rejuvenated celebrities to remind us of two things as we cruise through the holiday parties and into the New Year, 1^st that we look like crap (thanks – it’s the perfect reminder as we frantically dig through our wardrobe for something that will zip in preparation of the next cocktail soiree), and 2^nd that we are gluttonous slugs (because that message always makes us feel good about being alive!).

In addition to messaging so inappropriately demoralizing that it could kill your buzz on the day you were released from death row, they want you to spent a butt-load (and for some of us that represents a substantial amount – no pun intended) of money to boot!

Having tried virtually every kind of weight loss program over the years, I can assure you of one thing, there are four possible outcomes to any of these programs, which are:

• They won’t work
• They will work only if you also diet and exercise obsessively
• They’ll be so onerous you’ll quit before you know if they work
• They’ll make you so sick you’ll have to quit before you know if they work

I can assure you I’ve experience all four outcomes.

Many of these companies are making huge profits so they’re not about to change, however, I have a firm policy of not spending money with folks who make me feel like crap. The ones that make me feel like crap during the holidays and into the hope filled New Year – may they rot in a festering pool of Bowflex sweat and fat burning molecules!

Also seen on Menologues, Vibrant Nation and Alltop.

First of all, what the heck is a QR code? According to comScore, only about 6% of people have used a QR code. A QR code is also known as a quick reference code. It’s an image (special matrix bar code) that, with the right application, smart phones can direct users to special digital content. This means that only about a third of the U.S. population even has access to the right applications (PEW found that 35% of Americans have a smart phone). It’s safe to say the audience is still small.

Of the people who have used QR codes, they are more likely to be male, young adults, and have a high household income.

Why on my banana? Well, the banana sticker implies the QR code will direct me to content about a new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie. Maybe there is hope that children will pester their parents to use the QR code. Considering most people access a QR code from home, this is a possibility.

However, it better work. Don’t want to entice anyone to land nowhere as I did with a recent QR code. These will only become more popular if valuable content is delivered.

The QR code on my banana took me to a branded space to download a free ringtone. This content might disappoint little kids since they are less likely to have a mobile phone or a mobile phone that can implement a special ringtone. Of course, if the audience using QR codes likes The Chipmunks, this was a smart move.

Just ten days before Christmas the National Retail Federation changed its prediction of 2.8% sales increase to 3.8%. That’s $469.1 billion dollars. Lower than the 5.2% experienced last year, but “cautious optimism” was welcomed.

Brick-and-mortar fared well, but the real hero was in online sales. A record breaking $1.25 billion was spent on Cyber Monday alone and online sales rose 15% overall from last year. Part of the reason lies in free shipping offered by nine of ten online retailers at some point in the holiday shopping season. In addition, the new standard for online shopping appears to be free return shipping. Mobile shopping made a large impact, especially from Apple devices (iPhone and iPad).

Where was money spent? The holiday shopping patterns seem to mimic the larger rhetoric of a shrinking middle class. Dollar stores and pawn shops saw more than average traffic and sales, while higher end stores such as Sacks Fifth Avenue and Nieman Marcus also appreciated higher sales.

Even though a week before Christmas about one quarter of shoppers had not begun their holiday shopping, returns showed a remorse for shopping levels thus far. December saw record returns considering January can normally see a 7% return rate in strong economic times. Close to a 10% return rate is expected this season. The change could be in part from shoppers turning to credit cards to make purchases.

A survey by Consumer Reports found that shoppers planned to charge an average of $756 this holiday, up 6 percent from the previous year, though the number of people who plan to use credit has remained steady.

So, what can we learn for next year?

• If foot-traffic is most important to your business, there must be strategies in place to convert browsers to sales because online stores are ruthless.
• Be online. Make sure your product is available online, digitally attractive, and the site user-friendly.
• Make sure to offer free shipping and free return shipping to match your competitors and display confidence in your products.
• Have an easy mobile presence for shoppers.
• Offer a strong variety of price points. If lower cost and higher cost items are selling right now, make sure you can meet that demand.

References can be  found here, here, here, here, and here.

Supposedly changes are coming from two motivations; (1) higher numbers of jobless men are seeing some household duties shift to them, including grocery shopping, and (2) some men want to be more involved with the household and cooking.

In addition, there is an assertion that men like to experiment more and are more likely to impulse buy, which seems contrary to the idea that they are doing the shopping in lieu of working.

“The mindset has been that she shops, she really knows every inch of the store, she is really organized, has a list, is in a huge hurry,” Calpino said. “We talk to a lot of these millennial guys about shopping, and the biggest headline is they’re not as structured, not as hurried, much more experimental, more adventurous.”

Let’s think about this. The assumption is that men can’t function as well in stores that are set up for women. Aisle shopping is heavily researched. There is a lot of thought and planning put into where items appear on shelves and what they look like. There is also research on store layouts. However, to assume that crowded aisles are more frustrating and less enticing to men than women, as the research implies, is not fair. Of course no one wants to fight a crowded aisle, but are we assuming that men will go without something needed to avoid a crowd? Again, that seems unfair.

Everyone can benefit from a better shopping experience and curating space specific for women’s and men’s needs seems like a no-brainer. However, as shopping responsibilities equalize between both groups, there is room to improve the experience for all.

Unfortunately, only about a third of them are from people I know.

In all honesty, even Santa’s best elf could take on Grinch-like qualities with an onslaught of warm and heartfelt tidings from perfect strangers.

Happy New Year!

Aren’t we supposed to be moving toward a more personalized and meaningful interactive experience – in all phases of our lives?

When I see these blanket holiday greetings its kind of disheartening. I mean, not even have they made absolutely no attempt at personalization, apparently they have no idea who is even getting their random spewing of holiday cheer.

Are they arbitrarily expanding their contact list for the holidays? That doesn’t exactly seem like a way of making your closest and most important of contacts feel special, now does it? If you respond to this question by answering, well no, but I take my closest and most important out to lunch to celebrate up close and personal – then why don’t you just leave it at that? Do you think that tacky little spam greeting is what makes their holiday complete and makes them want to do business with you? Doubtful.

So the next time you are about to ask your designer to come up with a nifty little holiday e-mail that you can use to blanket the globe. Think again.

Right now, many Boomers are watching their parents age and become less independent. Some feel resentment to the expectation of caring for their parents and the emotional response is natural (Goulston, 2010). The difference lies in how these experiences are generating a unique conversation about their own end of life. At one end of the conversation spectrum, Boomers are exploring alternatives to traditional funerals and not using funeral homes for their parents or their own planning. Cremation and the spreading of ashes have become more commonplace (Rybarski, 2004).

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Boomers are dialoging about how to not be a burden for their own children (Goulston, 2010). Some are planning ahead for what they want to happen when they can no longer care for themselves. At the same time, many fear outliving their savings. Some have already decided to not save money for their children and instead use all savings to maintain or improve quality of life after retirement. In fact, over half of people aged 44 to 75 fear running out of money more than death (Fleck, 2010).

Overall, research is revealing that Boomers are fairly glum when it comes to external influencers like the economy.

Fully 80% say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country today, compared with 60% of those ages 18 to 29 (Millennials); 69% of those ages 30 to 45 (Generation Xers) and 76% of those 65 and older (the Silent and Greatest Generations).

They feel their standard of living is lower than their parents, enough to have to postpone retirement, and that their children will face greater hardship (Cohn & Taylor, 2010).

However, when looking at internal influencers like perceived health, older people are generally positive. In fact, older people are more positive about their current health than younger people think. Younger people feel “old” happens at about 60 years and that life is difficult and challenging at this age. The reality is that older people generally feel younger than their age and face few old age related challenges until later. Their lives are richer and more meaningful than younger people imagine, and yet their outlook remains glum (Cohn & Taylor, 2010; Pew Social Trends Staff, 2009).

Younger people think life is very different from what older people actually experience. It’s possible that greater interaction between groups will help close the knowledge gap, particularly since Boomers are one of the largest population segments (Pew Social Trends Staff, 2009).

There is one additional outcome that is being discussed and researched. When Baby boomers were adolescents, their suicide rate was higher than seen previously. Unfortunately, the suicide rate is again on the rise within the population. Researchers suspect that the option feels more viable for Boomers because they knew people that committed suicide when younger. “Baby boomers appear to be driving a dramatic rise in suicide rates among middle-aged people” (Emory University, 2010). There is a real possibility that some Boomers are currently choosing, and others will choose, suicide over feeling a burden to others. Watching their own parents become dependent on others and understanding what may come is encouraging some to consider, and others to implement, very different decisions to avoid this time in their lives.

Baby Boomers are still changing the rules. Not wanting to feel like a burden will motivate different kinds of decisions compared to previous generations, possibly even suicide. Businesses that focus on older populations have an opportunity to be part of this new conversation by helping Boomers not feel like a being a burden is in their future. Further research with Boomers can reveal the best ways to enter and frame an end of life conversation.

References

Cohn, D’Vera & Paul Taylor (December 20, 2010). Baby boomers approach 65-glumly.  Pew Research Center. Retrieved November 28, 2011, http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2010/12/20/baby-boomers-approach-65-glumly/

Emory University (2010, September 27). Baby boomers raise midlife suicide rate, study suggests. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 28, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09 /100927105201.htm

Fleck, Carole (July 1, 2010). Running out of money worse than death. AARP Bulletin. Retrieved November 28, 2011, from http://www.aarp.org/work/retirement-planning/info-06-2010/running_out_of_money_worse_than_death.html

Goulston, Mark, M.D., F.A.P.A. (June 30, 2010). Baby boomer death wish. Psychology Today.  Retrieved November 28, 2011, from http://www.psychologytoday.com

Pew Social Trends Staff (June 29, 2009). Growing old in America. Pew Research Center. Retrieved November 28, 2011, http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2009/06/29/growing-old-in-america-expectations-vs-reality/

Rybarski, Michael (June 2004). Boomer after all is said and done. American Demographics. Retrieved November 28, 2011, from www.demographics.com

Not to play on words too much, but there is a dark or “black” side of this day that is discussed every year after the day passes. Stories of people being injured or very frustrated by the process circle the Internet. This year a woman was almost crushed to death in North Texas when frantic customers ripped apart a display of DVDs. The video can be seen here. Unfortunately, the story of injury is not unique to one store or one year.

An editorial in the Arkansas Times shared how Black Friday was the “saddest day of the year” based on what people are driven to do and how they treat each other. The writer shares how he planned his Thanksgiving to make sure he was at a store when the doors opened at midnight. A special day with family impacted by a desire to buy gifts for his kids at a lower price. The writer was proud he was able to save money, but was frustrated by the process. I believe it doesn’t have to be this way.

There is not one person or institution to blame for the current culture of Black Friday, but there are ways to maintain the excitement and sales without frustrating customers or inadvertently creating scenes of injury. No business wants to be known for negative outcomes. The following are ways that Black Friday could be different:

• Offer savings and or exclusive opportunities to the best customers through social media or loyalty programs.
• Allow customers to “fast pass” the way amusement parks manage long lines. Everyone gets a line placeholder and returns when it’s their time to ride the ride.
• Dole out sale opportunities throughout the day so customers don’t feel they have to trample each other for savings at a specific time.
• Customers have already demonstrated they are willing to do things differently for Black Friday sales. Help them use this energy. Maybe have “friend moments” when people enlist their friends to shop with them and the group gets exclusive time in the store. This way people are shopping with others they know and like and thus are less likely to feel anonymous enough to watch actions take a negative turn.
• Offer better deals online at the same time to encourage people to shop in their bunny slippers.
• Divide up the day for different audiences so different groups cycle through at different times. For example, maybe tech toys on sale first thing but children’s toys won’t be on sale until later in the day.

These are just starting ideas. The point is to keep the excitement and sales high while helping customers always think fondly of your brand. More ideas are certainly possible. Think about your brand image and tailor Black Friday opportunities that best match the personality, keep your prime audience excited, and help everyone feel great about the holidays.

Best Friends has saved thousands of dogs using the idea of an invisible dog to represent the forgotten pets at city shelters that face little chance of adoption. They were successful through social media and using various layers of action from people. Actions ranged from making a donation to sponsoring an event to help raise awareness. Their efforts were even picked up by Mashable.

The Humane Society is also placing a friendly face on shelter animals. From YouTube:

The Shelter Pet Project is a public service ad campaign focused on
spreading the word that pets in shelters are wonderful and lovable,
and encouraging potential adopters to consider the shelter as the
first place to find a new best friend.

In addition, some of the most viewed videos on YouTube revolve around animals, particularly cats.  Cats are so prominent; a parody agency was created to highlight their importance in advertising.

Where is all this animal emphasis coming from? It’s not just that animals need attention. Humans are naturally drawn to dogs and cats because they remind us of babies and trigger parenting feelings. But, why the emphasis right now? Maybe it’s because the current economic downturn has forced many families to abandon their pets in shelters. When budgets get tight, some people are deciding their pets would be better off with another family. Unfortunately, many of these pets are not adopted. In addition, there is some stigma that shelter pets are not adoptable, that they will inherently have behavior problems. Certainly some do, but the vast majority doesn’t.

As the holidays draw closer and some families consider a new pet, I think shelters are trying to shed any negative connotations and find forever homes for their residents. It’s a logical explanation to see so much recent emphasis on shelter animals.

To close, a photo of my shelter dog who happily spends many of her days under my desk.

An image is popping up all over Facebook and other parts of the Internet right now that shows a sign at Nordstroms saying that they aren’t going to deck their halls for Christmas until the day after Thanksgiving. I was a little suspicious about the validity of the photo since it came across Facebook and seemed too good to be true, but I’ve found multiple stories online that help confirm that this is the real deal. A major retailer has done what I previously thought was impossible: saved Christmas for Christmas Time!

It turns out that this is actually a long-standing practice at Nordstroms and the sign pictured was from last year. Perhaps the timing (seasonal) and the Internet being the perfect medium for sharing are helping make this something people are talking about right now. But the more interesting thing to me is that despite Christmas decorations and merchandising appearing earlier and earlier every year nearly everywhere else, Nordstroms sticks by their guns and – as they say – celebrate one holiday at a time.

The sign reads:

at Nordstrom…

We won’t be decking our halls until Friday, November 27.

Why? Well, we just like the idea of celebrating one holiday at a time.

From our family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving.

We will be closed Thanksgiving Day.
On Friday, our doors will open to welcome the new season.

It takes guts to do so. A lot of retailers don’t have the gumption to do anything of the sort. A lot of businesses don’t have the willpower to take a position in something they believe in and understand that by doing so, they may lose out on some business but strengthen their relationship with other customers. When you stand up for what you believe in, those who identify with you become stronger advocates. Others can also see that you have principles and use them as guidelines for how you do business.

More businesses need to realize that they can’t be all things to all people. Be unique, stand up for something, and tell people about it. You’ll find your audience, your audience will find you, and you will have a more dedicated following. The risk, however, is that as soon as you stand for something, you have to continue to follow through.

But why should that be hard to do in business? It’s not – there just aren’t enough examples to follow. Maybe it’s time for that to change.

A focus on the middle class for product development and advertising has been an American staple for several decades. However, the current recession has continued to change profit expectations in most industries. Proctor & Gamble (P&G), a mainstay in many middle-class homes, is taking notice. Research has shown that their customers are trading down to lower cost products and P&G is beginning to offer bargain priced options in the United States. What it really means is that P&G is betting customer responses to the current economic situation will persist.

Several U.S. companies are feeling the trend. Target and Walmart are both seeing negative changes in their earnings while Dollar General and other firms catering to low-income customers are experiencing gains. Tiffany & Co. shared their lower-end products, traditionally popular among the middle-class, are currently not selling well while higher-end options are doing better.

A long-standing change in what people buy has implications for how products and services are marketed. Just a couple years ago people were willing to pay a little more for products they felt were better for the environment or connected to certain causes. Will this sentiment continue?

I don’t have a crystal ball, but the following are real possibilities as the U.S. middle-class continues to shrink:

1. More emphasis on innovation at a similar or lower price point. Brands and services will become innovation savvy in order to stand-out in the marketplace.
2. Companies and brands will offer more information and opportunities for customers to feel they are making smart purchasing decisions. It’s a way to build and grow positive relationships until people feel they can afford more. Or at least until postponing a purchase decision is no longer an option.
3. Word of mouth will continue to grow. We all still value what our friends and family say and this won’t change, but sharing about deals and our experiences will continue to grow as we help each other be successful during hard times. Brands that help people do this will be viewed positively.
4. New, cheaper, brands will be introduced. Rather than devaluing the products that people have trusted for years and continuing to lower prices, new options will appear and give people choices. As prediction #3 is implemented and #2 is more available, we will all know exactly how well the lower-cost options work and make informed decisions.
5. Brands will stand out through special opportunities that make the purchasing process easier. Products that are notoriously difficult to purchase, think house or car, might streamline their process or offer extra support during the process to help customers feel good. Then, these happy customers will participate in #3.

It will be interesting to watch how everything unfolds.

Sources for content can be found here and here.

We spend most of our lives going around believing we are rational, logical beings who make carefully weighted decisions based on objective facts in stable circumstances. Quote found here.

Of course we are! Anything less is admitting that life gets in the way of decision making. But, of course, many factors influence our decisions. Erving Goffman talked about the front and back stages of how we present ourselves. Our front stage, the one we share with others, is rational, on time, thoughtful and kind. Our backstage does not always match as it is our true self that can be selfish, greedy, and cranky, but it’s okay since these are parts of our personalities that we try not to reveal to others. The problem is when the curtain between who we are and who we want to be seen as is removed. Our front stage makes all the good decisions, or does it?

A new book talks about present bias. The idea that, I MUST HAVE THE NEW iPhone 4S (back stage emotion)! My present bias says that it’s the best iPhone yet and has features that will make my life better (front stage rationality). But will it? Will my future self feel the same way? Or, will a different mobile phone offer even better opportunities? Or, will my future self, who is not to be trusted, decide that mobile phones are useless and I need to live in a cave?

I have not read the book, but the teaser offers an interesting way to think about how and when we decide to buy something.

And she’s right. If her body stays 20-something, sleek and slim she never will wear “mom jeans”. Too bad it doesn’t work that way!

Who in their early 20’s with a knockout of a body would expect that to change in any way? I certainly didn’t. But the realities of a woman’s life: childbirth, surgical procedures leaving behind painful scar tissue, menopause, and god knows what else, don’t always leave us as they found us! In fact they rarely do.

Actually, Lee, you’re just setting that poor young thing up to be a laughing stock. She doesn’t look much more worldly wise than the three year old who never plans to have a job – she’ll just grow up to be a fairy princess.

No one has really defined “mom jeans” in my estimation. I’ve heard them described as anything from “jeans that are not strategically shredded $200.designer denim” to “ill fitting jeans that come up too high in the waist” – which are they? I’ve even heard them described as “anything worn by a 40+ woman”; I’m assuming they would exclude certain celebrity hard bodies.

So Lee, if you’re defining “mom jeans” as pretty much anything worn by a woman over 40 – you’ve just picked a fight that promises to cause you more pain than a tubal ligation.

As seen on Menologues, Vibrant Nation, Alltop

My first Mac experience was in grade school. I was a dorky computer kid at an early age, having fond memories of pounding out hundreds of lines of code into a Commodore Vic 20 in order to create a hangman game where I could replace the default library of words with a selection appropriate for a third grade playground. At school, though, we had a few Apple computers. They were amazing.

Not too long after the Mac came out, my dad, who was a designer and artist, got to bring one home for a week or so. I don’t think I left its side the entire time that little box with the built-in screen was in our house. Keep in mind – there was no Internet connection. I had no games. Just the built-in software, a keyboard and a mouse. But that’s all I needed. The device was magical and enthralling. I loved it.

The first Mac we purchased and owned at home was a Mac LCII. The good ol’ Pizza Box. That machine was truly amazing, and was the gateway to so many things that are still part of my life today. Here are a sampling of the things that something simple like a computer allowed me to do:

• Computer programming
• Play games
• Learn how to play the piano
• Access the Internet (pre-world wide web)
• Surf the Web
• Desktop publishing
• Design and layout
• Create music and sound effects
• Fight with my parents about how much freaking time I spent on the computer
• And a lot more… I can’t even remember

This was the foundation of a love for not just computers, but of creation, imagination, and information. This computer was an interface to the world, and I felt as if I could do anything I wanted on it. It also happened to be a Mac, and it was beautiful. There was an emotional connection to this thing.

Emotion is where Apple’s brand and associated products stands out. I think Jobs understood this, but that to him, it wasn’t simply business strategy. He felt it and believed it. He knew that something well-designed, elegant, and beautiful that also provided value and function would simply be better. Everyone who has experienced anything associated with Steve Jobs’ Apple has felt this. And that’s why the passing of a guy who made a computer is profoundly affecting so many people.

I’m sad that we won’t be able to find out what else Steve had in store for us. I hope that his legacy can live on not just within Apple, but inside everyone who hopes and dreams and wants to change the world in one way or another.

There are tons of great recaps, quotes, tributes, and stories popping up everywhere online right now. I think Apple’s tribute (as pictured below) sums it up best. Simply, Steve Jobs. Insanely great.

I read Steve Hall’s AdRANT post questioning how sharks can sell candy when they can’t even walk out of the ocean, and admittedly that has a lot to do with what makes me laugh so hard. The concept is ludicrous, and that’s part of what makes it so funny.

The ad opens on a dowdy focus group facilitator starting to debrief her, as yet, unseen participants. So far pretty standard stuff. But then the shot widens to include the group she’s debriefing; a bunch of fake looking sharks standing around the corporate conference table. Hmmm, that’s different.

The moderator calmly goes on to ask her focus group participants which of the two humans they ate tasted better; a bit shocking.

And then they really bring it home! Clearly Steve tasted better than Lisa, they explain as they “talk with their fins” and rub their bellies in remembrance of delicious Steve. At this point I’ve usually begun to (pardon the pun) snicker.

The expressive sharks now try to articulate, with both words and gestures, that there was a subtle flavor to Steve that made him their clear preference. Shark foodies – who knew?

But what really puts me over the top is the moderator’s response to their preference of Steve. Of course Steve was better, Lisa had eaten a peanut butter cup just prior to being consumed, but Steve ate Snicker’s Peanut Butter Squared.

God love them, they managed to take that outrageous farce and pay it off with a strong product endorsement – you’re better off eating people who have eaten Snicker’s Peanut Butter Squared. Can you think of anyone who could argue this point intelligently? I’d say not.

But it doesn’t just end there. Our moderator provides her group with positive feedback – they got it right. And Snicker’s Peanut Butter filled Steve was just too irresistible not to ask for seconds. Double pay off!

Positive Aging or Punitive Ageism

Vincent Vassolo recently wrote a post entitled: The Power of Positive Aging. In it he states that baby boomers “know the destructive power of prejudice…they simply won’t tolerate ageism”.

I like how he thinks. But I don’t know on what island these “revolutionary” boomers are hiding.

I know a lot of boomers. Hell, I am a boomer, and I see and hear about a lot of misery over aging. Sure there are your occasional rebels; they are typically the ones pontificating about all the things they don’t care about. In fact they often brag that they don’t care how they look, and that goes a long way toward helping them become indifferent to aging.

Unfortunately, most boomers are victims of what may have been the most pervasive period of mass communication featuring the perfect body; in fact many believe that the bodies featured were literally too good to be true and would not have existed without extensive air brushing.

So what happens when we look at our own bodies and realize that, not only are they not air brush perfect, they are not even the imperfect, but youthful – and maybe even buff – bodies of our youth. Barring a few rare exceptions, they’re just not as good as they were. Let’s hear that rebel yell! I didn’t think so.

Vassolo makes several excellent points, such as: “ageism is the most self-destructive form of prejudice”, I’m guessing it’s not quite as self-destructive as being a pedophile – but that’s just a guess, and “it’s impossible to live constructively while courting what is essentially self-loathing. If you hate aging, on some level you hate your own life. That’s a fact”, if that is indeed a fact, we are facing a pandemic of life loathing that could well turn the concept of ‘living constructively’ into a dusty old relic.

Vassolo, you’re asking too much of us! When we seem intolerant of ageism it’s not that we’re out there telling ageist morons why age really doesn’t matter; it’s that most of us are planning on enjoying eternal youth! We work hard at never getting old; so when we’re faced with ageism we rally on behalf of the poor victimized old people – but they’re not us!

As he ends his post, Vassolo suggests that we make a list comprised of five negative beliefs about aging and five positive ones. He suggests that we begin to question our negative beliefs and devise ways of trying to overcome the worst of the negative ones.

I submit that the most negative belief about aging is how you ‘believe’ you are perceived when you interact with young people; the ones who are like you used to be. You will never truly know how they see you. Are you the old person at the office? Are you the really cool person who knows some awesome stuff and has had amazing experiences? Or somewhere in between? Have you ever been patronized by one of them? Did you ever inadvertently patronize an older person in your younger days? Can you learn to stop seeing yourself though the eyes of youth?

Also seen on: Menologues, Vibrant Nation, Alltop

Extreme Tech Geek

The tech geeks seem to come in two basic types, on the extreme end there is the ‘fanatically obsessive’ “there’s nothing online I don’t know, there’s nothing digital I can’t figure out” geek. These guys are kind of funny. If you want to kill them you don’t have to use a gun, all you have to do it beat them to the latest version of some electronic gizmo – and they lose the will to live. They are also the ones who have difficulty hiding their horror at those slightly less gifted in tech knowledge. Some of them have to be hidden when clients visit.

Digital Trailblazer

On the more mainstream end there is the ‘extremely competent and creative digital trailblazer’, who gets that there are people whose entire lives and every waking moment are not dedicated to the pursuit of digital exploration and creation. They’re a little more realistic than their extreme brethren, although they do have trouble understanding why grandpa isn’t euthanized if he can’t use e-mail. Clearly, these folks are a bit more approachable.

The rest of the company breaks out into two other basic groups: the ‘obsessive

Obsessive Tech Wannabe

tech wannabe’, and the ‘teach me tech on a need to know basis’. The ‘obsessive tech wannabe’ is vaguely respected by the tech geeks. They’re really trying, but they’ll never be ‘us’ because they just don’t have “our gift”. This group is mortified when hardware defeats them – they don’t go down without a fight before calling IT. They are eager to learn at the feet of the masters, and for that they are acknowledged as “having promise”. They are fairly competent navigating through what already exists and can ideate, but are rarely in a position to actually create anything digital.

Need to Know

At the very bottom of the barrel we have the ‘teach me tech on a need to know basis’ folks. They view technology as a tool. When they need to know something they search for the tool that will enable them to do what they need. They’re not incapable of learning, they learn what they need. ‘Fanatically obsessive tech geeks’ usually wear a garlic necklace or carry a cross when entering a room inhabited by the ‘need to know’ group. They don’t just disdain them – they detect a marked disability.

‘Need to know’ folks can figure some things out themselves, but they’re not as adventurous as any of the other groups. Having a competent instructor increases their comfort level dramatically, and often the ability to find the right instructor is the number one thing holding them back. When the only choice of an instructor is a ‘fanatically obsessive tech geek’, which is logical since they are the self-acknowledged gurus who know everything; ‘need to know’ is left in the dust. This happens because ‘fanatically obsessive tech geek’ is also “extreme control freak who would rather just do it themselves”, so that’s what they do. Instead of teaching ‘need to know’, they do it for them, which only serves to confirm their contention, that ‘need to know’ can’t fight their way out of the proverbial digital paper bag. So unfair! Or is it a form of protecting one’s territory? Hmmmm.

‘Extremely competent tech geek’ is a much better teacher – partly because they actually DO teach – although sometimes they’re a bit too technical to understand easily; and ‘obsessive tech wannabe’ can help ‘need to know’ move mountains!

So take a hint ‘fanatically obsessive’ and put your money where your mouth is. If you want everyone in your company to ‘make you proud of their digital savvy’ be a teacher!

And by the way, we used to have yet another group comprised of ‘I hate technology, keep it the hell away from me’. Those dinosaurs have not walked our earth for many moons.

This week’s reflection will be a little different from my last one. Jordan did us the honor of assigning us typefaces and I wanted to do something in a similar manner. So after serious thought and consideration I will be picking new careers for my fellow interns.

Jordan Becker is the best desk buddy to have around. I have the “privilege” of sitting next to him for 40 hours a week. I also have a tendency to call Jordan a diva, but I think that is the designer in him. I believe Jordan’s future career is talent scouting. His quick decision-making and judgments could easy make him the new Simon Cowell of our generation. His wittiness and sassiness could land him a spot on American Idol, America’s Got Talent or more likely, Project Runway. This kid has a craving for creativity, talent and for some reason glitter.

Rob is the driving force behind our Creating Captains project. Setting deadlines and keeping us on track is his job. However his future career is much different than an account executive position. Rob WILL be the new Barefoot Contessa. Rob does the perfect imitation of Barefoot Contessa and has a similar baking style: lots of butter. Good luck on your future Food Network baking show! You can come over and cook for me anytime.

On a side note, if there is ever a remake of Mean Girls, please cast Rob as Regina George. He doesn’t need a script because he already knows the lines.

Jen is a performer, simple as that. What she is doing in advertising, I have no idea. I can only assume that she is taking this approach to later star in commercials and radio spots. Spend five minutes with her and you can easily tell that she is meant for Broadway. Her side hobbies include writing songs about football camps and dancing. Get her autograph now before she becomes too famous. Aside from her future career as a performer I can only imagine Jen will own anywhere from 40-80 kittens.

Chelsea is a blast in a glass. It seems that every morning I have about four emails informing me of old, new and upcoming music trends. Chelsea definitely has a good taste for music. I believe that Chelsea would make a great music producer. Her love of music is so strong that she has decided to drag me to karaoke nights on Thursdays. Do not quote me on this, but I believe she is the first person to discover the new rage in music apps, Spotify.

No matter what career these people choose, they are going to be amazing at anything. To conclude, I would like to say that our intern Twitter account (@Bozell_Confess) is active and we have been “confessing” things on a daily basis! So please follow us to stay up to date on things that are happening around Bozell.

Even though we’re all so busy around the office, we still make time for the other intern shenanigans that started on our first day. Random YouTube videos, pranks on each other and watching The Food Network in the Bunker Room during our lunch breaks are all still happening on a regular basis. This Friday will be exciting because it’s the first annual Bozell Cupcake War! Myself, along with three other Bozell employees, will be baking up a storm in hopes of taking away the championship.

It’s true what many people say about working in an advertising agency. You work hard, you play hard. That definitely holds true here at Bozell. Even though we’re swamped right now with work, we still make time to have fun along the way. I’m looking forward to my final month of the internship and excited to see the work that I started at the beginning, finally come full-circle.

As crazy as our schedules are, we still find time to have some fun. Lunch hour with the interns is always a fiasco: anything from Velcro tennis games to spontaneous tours of ritzy apartment buildings in the area. We’ve also established a weekly tradition of checking out a new restaurant in the Old Market each week. When we bring our lunches and decide to stick around Bozell during the lunch hour, we opt for either a picnic outside feeding the birds random tidbits of leftovers from our meals or relaxing in the bunker room watching classic American television: the Food Network or Jerry Springer. All-in-all, the bonding experience so far has been incredible, and I can’t wait for the coming weeks as we continue to craft our project and spend time together.

I was extremely nervous to meet the other interns on the first day because I had been the only intern for so long. The nerves disappeared the minute we began introducing ourselves. Chelsea, Rob, Joe and Jordan are so talented and fun to work with. I can honestly say I have found friends in them which is nice when I want someone to eat lunch with or if I feel compelled to randomly break into song while walking back to my car from the College World Series (Shout out to Joe!- yeah yeah).

We have all gotten extremely busy recently which is really exciting. This means it’s time for the fun to begin. Rob and I have recently had our creative briefs approved for our Creating Captains project which means that Jordan can finally begin planning out what he wants to do. Jordan is a design genius, and I am in awe every time he presents me with an idea. He is so fun to talk to and concept with. Rob is extremely organized and has been great with planning ahead and being the contact person for our client. He and I work together to make sure things get done which has been a great learning experience. Joe has been swamped with work for the College World Series-primarily the tailgating. He hasn’t been in the office because of that which is a shame because we all miss his gleaming face and perfectly pitched singing voice!  Chelsea is our social media intern, and she has been great about sending out a video of the day. She has a fun spirit and is great with people.

I could go on and on about how amazing Bozell is, but there are not enough words. If anyone has a special request, I’d be happy to write a song and choreograph a dance to properly express the joy I have in working here. Until then, I will leave you with one final statement: I love Bozell.

Joe: Franklin Gothic. The reason I pegged Joe for Franklin Gothic is because it is incorporated in Bozell’s identity system. Joe is oozing with Bozell pride. Also, Franklin’s tall x-height relates back to Joe’s obsession with his high-top sneakers. It just seems that this font and Joe were meant to be.

Chelsea: Gotham. The reason Chelsea is Gotham is because, like Gotham, Chelsea is very trendy. She treats the office like a fashion show with her killer outfits. Chelsea is really fun to be around because of her outgoing personality, which I believe Gotham represents.

Jennifer: Avenir. Avenir is very professional and so is Jenn. One of the best parts about Avenir is that it can look good in a professional setting and also on a kid’s birthday party invite. With Jenn’s fantastic and crazy sense of humor and great business etiquette, she really couldn’t be any other typeface.

Rob: Archer. Archer is a slab serif, so needless to say it creates a presence when used in a design. Rob is the type of guy to take charge of a situation and figure things out. Archer was also created for use in Martha Stewart Living, and Rob makes some mean cupcakes.

I can’t choose a typeface for myself because my favorite changes daily. Maybe I will leave it up to the other interns to pick one. Just no goofball fonts!

One thing that all these typefaces have in common is that they are creative and fun to work with and so is our team of interns. One of the best parts about this internship has been the people. I wish I could assign all of the creative and nice people at Bozell a typeface, but then I wouldn’t have any time to design with them.

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!

For starters, Bozell has some of the most intelligent people I have ever met. I have had the pleasure to meet many fine individuals over these last few weeks and all of them seem so happy to be a part of this company. As an intern it can be frightening to start working with the big dogs. However, the people of Bozell have seemed to quickly friend us and treat us with respect like we are already part of their family. It is refreshing to come and leave work daily with a smile on my face.

I could not ask for a better group of interns to work with. Something about these guys and gals makes me feel comfortable talking about anything. Since day one we all hit it off and we are getting along better than ever. We have already implemented an intern happy hour every Wednesday. I know that us interns are getting along really well when I am heckled after I miss our lunch dates. We are so different and that makes this experiment fun.

We experienced our first Fridays at Four last week. It was a brand new experience for us. We lounged around the table looking over downtown Omaha with an occasional game of Washers. After a small incident (blame Rob) I had to climb over the railing and under the deck to retrieve one of the washer disks and a blue blouse. I don’t want to
know why that blouse was down there.

This is going to be a busy summer for us. After the Creating Captains creative brief receives its final critiques the fun begins! This will be a fun and entertaining summer for the five of us. We will be busy working with new clients and campaigns, the College World Series and Creating Captains.

But, as we soon found out, maintaining a consistent brand image while transitioning from clean corporate cubicles to a gritty downtown warehouse takes a little time.

We had this grand vision of what the overall look would be. We really wanted to embrace the unique vibe of the Old Market. We’re a creative agency! This is what we’re about! But we knew that getting to that point was going to take some work.

When it came time to haul the multitude of technology, furniture and files to the new office, it became evident that the transition would need to be done one step at a time. The first few days, it was enough to have access to email, a computer network and a working phone so we didn’t miss a beat with client projects — interior design would have to come later.

But the big vision wasn’t forgotten. A group of Bozell employees with a gift for aesthetics got together to start brainstorming. And Bozell’s Department of the Interior (DOI) was born.

This 5-person team looked to the gritty, urban feel of our new home for inspiration. The historic former warehouse already had its share of personality—complete with worn wooden floors, a monumentally open space with high ceilings and exposed pipes. And the fairly dramatic slope from one end of the historic wooden floor to the other was certainly, well, distinctive.

But distinctive wasn’t enough. The space needed to become distinctively Bozell.

Chris Tipton who is an interactive designer and de facto leader of the DOI saw integrating a consistent brand image to a completely different kind of space as a really fun creative challenge. The team wanted to stay true to the building’s history and the Old Market, so they treated the existing aesthetics of the building as a palette to work from.

Bozell’s Department of the Interior includes Chris Tipton, Carrie Ratliff, Erica Rowe, Aaron Christensen and Dan Greve.

The team made note of areas in need of engaging visuals and observed how the space was being used to identify their next steps. The assessment led to a list of several major projects to do throughout the space.

For example, our entrance — clients and other guests were walking right past the primary entrance to the greatroom and down the hall, ending up near our server room. A large, closed-off wooden pod, which took up much of the open space in the entry, didn’t provide a clear enough signal of welcome. A solution to make this space more open and inviting—something that would naturally lead people in—went to the top of the to-do list.

To address the flow of the entryway, the pod was rotated 90 degrees, which was interesting and quite an ordeal because it was built in place so it had to be disconnected from the floor. Its largest wall, now facing the entrance, was removed which involved all kinds of saws. Add some chairs, a table and a giant bowl of candy, and what used to be a massive barrier became a welcoming entrance and waiting area.

Cable and clips transformed a large blank wall into a display of creative work that can be quickly and easily updated with anything from chalkboards and old signage to a 12-by-12-foot banner.

Another visually vacant space was converted into a display area. The old rusty warehouse doors were opened, revealing a receded cinderblock wall. Wood was layered over it to match the desks and pods, and then covered with pieces of Bozell’s own proud history.

In the kitchen, furniture was rearranged, tossed and pulled in from other areas to create a usable community space that tied the look together. The torn-off pod wall from the entryway was trimmed to fit into a recess along one wall, tying in the gritty wood motif of the main office. Platforms were built to exacting specifications to give a level support to a work table and several file cabinets on the slanted floor.

Then, the DOI went outside. A Bozell sign was created and hung on the side of the building.

Another community space was created on the porch, using donated wooden pallets to create outdoor seating and a table, and topped with cushions in Bozell green. In fact, the cushions were one of the few items that were purchased by the team in transforming the space. The Bozell sign, a table for the seating area in the kitchen, and the outdoor furniture, along with other small projects were built by DOI members themselves. The only other costs included modest construction assistance for the platforms, some spare wood and some screws—a telling demonstration of the team’s crafty creativity.

Collectively, these changes added up to an office that reflected Bozell’s brand while celebrating the gritty heritage of its historic new space. But that doesn’t mean the DOI is retiring.

We’re proud of the projects completed to date. We feel it’s really given Bozell ownership of our new space.  But as Chris Tipton is the first to say, we have more we hope to do. With a large open space like this, once you start to imagine the possibilities, it’s impossible to stop.

Bush and Facebook .

For those of you who have not yet seen their new tv spot it is brilliant in it’s simplicity. A shot of Duke’s Facebook message in search of buyers for the Bush family secret bean recipe – the one he’s been trying to sell surreptitiously for years. And Jay’s immediate Facebook response consisting of a one word recrimination – Duke!

From those two Facebook-style fragments we learn that Bush’s Baked Beans are social media savvy in a way that is not inconsistent with their down home and campy brand. Smartly done!

As week two comes to an end, I can officially say that all of the interns have clicked.  We’ve had the chance to work with a variety of crazy talent so far and each day brings something new.  When we first started at Bozell, we were told that each day is different.  I had heard that before at other internships, but Bozell definitely has kept that promise.  We’re still learning the ropes and still meeting new people daily, but it’s been great because each day we are meeting and working with new talent.

As the Brand Navigation intern, I’ve had the chance to work on a few different accounts already, while also sitting in on a variety of different meetings with actual clients.  I’ve even had the chance to sit in on a few creative meetings and am starting to get a better picture of how a project makes its way through the agency.  The experience I’ve gotten in the Brand Navigation department so far has been outstanding.  I’ve had real responsibilities, real deadlines and real work.

I’ve been busy this week spending a lot of time on our non-profit organization, Creating Captains.  Finishing up creative briefs, figuring out what tactics to use to actually implement our ideas and making sure we have all our bases covered has kept me pretty busy.  All of us are pumped to see this campaign go full-circle and are looking forward to creating some awesome content for our client.

Between the people, the projects and the experience so far, I would say that this is definitely on its way to being a great summer.

The reputable Borsheims brand is often perceived as expensive, exclusive and intimidating to couples in their 20s and 30s looking to get engaged. The “Forever” campaign was designed to create an attainable, accessible look to attract shoppers at every price point.  Bozell worked with Minor White Studios to capture real couples in well-known locations around Omaha giving the campaign a genuine, local feel.

The sincere emotion and romantic undertones would make any girl say, “I want that to be me!”  Here are some behind the scenes photos from the two-day shoot.  Stay tuned for the final campaign!

And agencies are changing. They’re bringing on new capabilities, anything from digital to direct mail or publishing. Agencies are diversifying their offerings and clarifying those things that they’ve always done but that some marketers seem to have forgotten. Clearly the agencies that are not “reinventing (god what an overused term) themselves” are going down.

There’s a lot of buzz about agencies and change. Is there something very unique about the business that’s forcing it into this apparent revolution? Not really.

Any junior marketer knows that in order to thrive business must change. Any business.

There are people who will tell you that, with the advent of digital to fragment media choices, and with branding agencies broadcasting to the world that only they are capable of branding – even though sophisticated, full service agencies have been doing branding since the inception of branding, the ad , agency business faces extinction.

But I ask you, aren’t conditions in every business changing? Doesn’t the advent of digital and social media affect every business? Sure some changes can and should evolve more slowly than others – but every business should be in flux pretty much all the time to “keep the stone from gathering moss.”

The most savvy folks in our industry are change agents. So why does everyone look at us as if we have three minutes to run from a burning building?

It became quickly apparent that we five interns were going to be fast friends and a great team when we all ordered the same thing for lunch the first day: plain chicken and cheese quesadillas. Kevin joked that if anyone asked about us interns that he would respond “They don’t like onions!!” And it’s all uphill from there. Daily morning coffee runs and a “random link of the day” from me have been established, and lunch break bonding has ensued, although we have had to call out Joe for ditching us multiple times, and Jordan has already left us for vacation (the team just isn’t whole without him!). We’ve already hatched a plan to make a video series of our lives and experiences here at Bozell, and the ideas just keep coming. And how many companies give interns their very own desks?? And I’m talking full-size legitimate desks. Yea, this is cool.

Our very first day, we knew this internship would be unlike any other when we had our first client meeting with Creating Captains, the nonprofit organization that we get to work on this summer. We came out of the meeting absolutely ecstatic about working with Matt and Allie, the two people that run the organization. Their energy and the amazing message and goals of the nonprofit will make for a fun project, and I think I speak for all of us interns that any free time is dedicated to researching and coming up with ideas to create the best possible proposal we can (yes, we’re THAT excited about it). We’ve all been busy so far with our own individual department assignments, and I have learned soooo much already! I may actually come out of this thing ready for the real world! (scary thought) So all in all, Bozell is awesome, us interns are awesome, and this summer is already bidding for a top spot on my list of best summers ever. Bring it on week #2! We’re ready for you!

Thanks to all who joined us!

Missed it? There will be more parties to come.  But in the meantime, check out this video of the space’s transformation from an open warehouse last October into the dynamic creative space it is today, and our party photo gallery.

Check out the photos from our party on our Facebook page.

When we moved into the new office space at the end of 2010, we were excited about all the new-ness. Not having offices. 16-foot ceilings. Being downtown. Having a patio. We also had a lot of ideas on “other” stuff we could do, as the Creative Minds all saw potential no matter how cool things already were.

Well, over the past couple weeks, we’ve been putting the ideas into action and I am so impressed with what’s happened. For us, it was just an extension of what we do. We solve problems, we think, we design, we create and build. Sometimes all of those things happen on the computer. Sometimes they are printed or materialize as signs, billboards, television commercials, websites, postcards, radio ads… you name it. This time, however, we’ve started with raw materials and made THINGS. We’ve taken pallets and scrap wood and built walls, benches and tables. We’ve handcrafted signage for the building. We’ve put the ideas into action and added sweat, tears and yeah, a little blood, and actually made some things. It looks really good. It feels great.

Doing the work and getting your hands dirty can really help keep you rooted and connected with how stuff actually happens. It helps you to solve problems better when you are the one who actually has to do the work to make things happen. There’s also simply the feeling you get after having created something real that doesn’t just exist when the electricity is on.

I’d love to hear about the types of “real” things that you do that help keep you in touch with the real world, and what types of work you’ve seen to help influence the creative process. And if you’re in the neighborhood – stop by and say hi. We can show you around and let you see all of the things we’ve been working on.

We’ve worked with the local organizing committee for the College World Series for many, many years (in fact one of our founders helped convince the NCAA to bring the tournament to Omaha). We’ve helped grow the event and build excitement year after year.

But back in 2008 when the initial recommendation to build a new state-of-the-art stadium was brought up — since it would cost almost the same as upgrades to Rosenblatt, and position Omaha more strongly for a long-term contract with the NCAA — the idea wasn’t an automatic home run. In fact, it faced an enormous amount of resistance and fear of what a move downtown would do to the colorful, somewhat kitchy, home-town feel of the series. Read more about that effort.

People were worried that it wouldn’t be the same.  And they were right. It is different, but that doesn’t mean less. New memories, new experiences, new firsts and a new chapter in history.

Last week when the stadium opened, there was a lot of buzz and you could feel the excitement. Tickets sold out for the inaugural game — fittingly enough between Creighton (long-time CWS host institution) and NU. The first tailgaters showed up on a cold April morning, bundled in blankets or outfitted in hooded sweatshirts. They barbecued, they played catch and they partied.  When the gates opened and people entered the stadium, they were wowed and warmed, despite the bitter cold evening. I can’t count the number of times I heard the words “wow”, “awesome” and “niiiiice”.

Sitting in the stands of the new stadium with its incredible sight lines and amazing views; walking the wide open concourses or being able to keep an eye on the action while you get a soda, it’s hard for anyone, even the biggest skeptic, to argue that new game watching experience wasn’t a change for the better. And after the game, it’s soooo easy to walk over to a restaurant or bar to relax or grab a bite and let the traffic clear out. There is so much to do in the area and the circulatory shuttle will allow people to move around easily and enjoy what downtown has to offer. I was thrilled when I learned about that shuttle,  because it picks up in the Old Market, right near our office.

When we experience the first series in the new stadium, there will no doubt be some hiccups as we all get used to the new locale. After all we had a lot of years mastering how it all worked at Rosenblatt. But like me, most people are incredibly excited to build new traditions, new memories and watch history happen from a new vantage point. I can’t wait.

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Managing change in your business isn’t easy, but click here for a few tips that might help.

Recently one of our copiers went off contract. We’d been paying just under $400. dollars a month plus usage fees. They told us we could just continue to pay the monthly fee and usage fees while we were deciding how we wanted to proceed. After a few months we were ready to discuss options. They suggested that we could sign a contract to pay $0. dollars a month plus usage fees. Excuse me? They didn’t bother to mention this when the contract ended? They continued to collect the full monthly fee from us as though they weren’t blatantly picking our pockets.

Even when functional, the copy machine remains one of the greatest sources of frustration in the office.

Now we probably don’t need that copier at all – the manufacturer has agreed to pick up the machine for free – yay! Not so fast! As is their usual MO they will charge us an exorbitant fee for cancelling a $0. charge contract! Nothing short of highway robbery.

This company has a few sales reps who are automatons and a few who seem like decent folks – unfortunately they’re not given any leeway to try to keep their customers satisfied – either that or they’re just lame. They just keep adding fees on top of fees and telling us we can’t get what we want – ever!

During our recent office move they quoted us a sizeable chunk of cash to move our two machines a few miles. We asked our brand new and very promising sales rep if he could get them to lower the cost at all (we’d been told that many copier companies will provide a move of this magnitude free of charge – as a service to their customers) and after several days he proudly announced that he had a way of lowering the cost to us – ‘move some of it yourself’ was his solution. Gee thanks.

My colleague suggested that she would try to get the $0. contract cancelled without incurring additional fees. She would make another attempt at dealing directly with their customer care line. I was loathe to point out the misnomer – experience tells us she was about to encounter their customer ‘don’t care’ line! Sometimes you just have to face it for what it is!

Does that seem harsh?

That’s because I’m mocking this little camp creation that shows a fellow Domino’s chef along with their pr guy mocking their new chicken chef Cluck – I mean Tate – Dillow. And if it isn’t bad enough being mocked by your colleagues for being chicken-centric and probably for looking goofy – poor little Tate is being rated by the whole world. Yes, that nasty SOB Domino’s CEO has redesigned the Domino’s box to enable the whole world to judge poor sad little Dillow.

The CEO, Mr. I-am-so-very-down-to-earth-and-I-care-so-much-about-my-customers has insisted that his valued buyers get to weigh in on the future of this pathetic little guy and his chicken concoctions. They have reduced his life’s work to these three check boxes: Nope, Almost or Oh yes we did it.

Tate himself weighs in in his slight southern drawl “I hate bad chicken”. On his employers cardboard kangaroo court he comments “I – or rather Ah, did not know he was going to do that.”

If you check Tate out on YouTube you get an even sadder story. “No one really knows where my lab is.” “We call him the Lone Wolf” (oh please, you mean the wolf that raids the chicken coup?).

On his :30 tv spot Tate shows a little bit of backbone – very little. “Ah’m not excited about the box at all,” he croaks in his sad little southern chicken voice emerging from his worried looking chicken face.

What do you think – does it crack you up or is it just a tacky little cheap shot? Where do you stand on the chicken?

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!

There was  anticipation back then – a little high I’d get every morning, checking my email to see what retail treasures awaited me.

Then came LivingSocial. And now there’s Valpak, and two other local daily deals that arrive as scheduled when I check my phone as I walk out the door.

My inbox on a typical weekday morning . . . somehow the deals don't seem as exclusive as they used to.

I realized yesterday morning that the spark isn’t there anymore. Was it because I was on my way to a funeral (I didn’t think so) or have the daily deals begun to lose their charm?

I was curious, so I started to do a little research. Everything I read online seemed to discount my feelings. Groupon and Living Social both continue to see growth in their subscriber lists. But there’s no information that really divulges what’s happening with their open and click-through rates, or the rate that people are unsubscribing. So I asked around the office. The results were a mixed bag.

There were a couple of people who have unsubscribed from their deals altogether, some that still get pretty excited about them, and quite a few subscribers who have never actually made a purchase. One thing was pretty clear though – success lies in the subject line. We no longer open the email to get all the details.  If the subject doesn’t sell, the deal is done.

I’ve noticed a change in Groupon’s subject lines. Some days they promote deals from two different vendors. One those days they no longer divulge the savings of the deal, but simply tell you who’s offering it. Is the mystery of the savings enough to get us to open the email even if we’re not that interested in the retailer? I don’t think so.  But the difference in format does make them stand out among the offers from the other deal sites – good or bad.

I’ve purchased a handful of deals along the way, and it always feels good to save money on something I’d buy anyway. But the offers I’m really interested in seem fewer and farther in-between these days.

If we’ve reduced our daily deal interaction to subject lines, and the number of offers we receive continues to increase, how will the different providers make their offer more tempting? And if they can’t, how long will the lure of the deal sustain us?

The ads are large adhesive banners placed in various places on the moving portion of the baggage carousel. Combine novelty with the fact that most travelers wait 10 to 15 minutes for their luggage to arrive and visibility of the Borsheims ads is bound to be high. And because it’s in the public portion of the airport, friends and family meeting and waiting with the travelers will also see the moving ads. This medium is the latest airport advertising initiative popping up around the country. The hope is to capitalize on the targeting of a demographic considered wealthy, young and cosmopolitan. Non-aviation revenue makes up about half of U.S. airports’ operating revenues, according to Airports Council International-North America.

With the carousel banners Borsheims will give a big welcome to shareholders as well as the hundreds of thousands of other travelers this month. Beyond the banners, Borsheims also play a big role in the event festivities:  from the opening party to an event blog to special shopping days. This year the Oracle of Omaha himself will be behind the counter at Borsheims for a day. Can you imagine buying your wedding ring from Warren Buffet? That would be a story to tell.

I’m still a work in progress.  Especially in time management. I’m working on getting better organized so I can be more effective and trying out various options to see what will “stick” for me. I tend to start strong, but lose steam and need to figure out how to better maintain momentum.  I think I’ll print this and hang it in my office to remind me that success is built inch-by-inch, everyday.

"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!

Nan Pike, Broadcast Production Manager

A 30-second commercial goes by fast. A good one delivers a quick, memorable message. But creating that simple message can be anything but—just ask Nan Pike, Bozell’s broadcast production manager. Nan is the person the creative team trusts to take its concept from paper to full life on the screen.

In the 20-plus years she has managed the production process, Nan has learned how to keep all the people and pieces in line to make sure that every shoot results in powerful material and happy clients.

Take a look at what happens behind the scenes of that seemingly simple 30-second commercial. Action!

Before a shoot

Behind the scenes of a how-to video series for Westlake Ace Hardware, shot on location at one of the company’s Kansas City stores.

The process starts long before the shoot date. About four to eight weeks out, a concept is finalized by the creative team and handed over to Nan for production. Then, Nan starts assembling her team. This involves reaching out to production companies whose style might go well with the company’s brand and message.

“We talk with the companies and get their feedback and ideas, making sure they will work well with the creative team to enhance the concept, and not try to change it or make it their own,” Pike said.

Then, bids are collected and reviewed from the production companies that are good matches. A recommendation is made to the client, the client signs off on a final decision, and Nan gets to work coordinating the production team with internal efforts to make sure everything comes together seamlessly on the shoot day.

“Good planning and efficiency are absolutely critical to a shoot. Otherwise you end up backtracking, missing things or spending more than you needed to,” Pike said.

Careful planning is especially important because it helps her to be ready when the unexpected happens—and it always does, Pike said.

For example, once, talent flying in from Minnesota had her flight cancelled due to an unexpected storm. Pike and her crew had to scramble to find a replacement or face rescheduling the entire shoot, a costly undertaking.

“Replacing talent is especially difficult. There are so many aspects that go into a talent choice—performance, look, ambience. Intangibles that really make a difference in the commercial’s feel,” Pike said.

The better the pre-production planning, the better the shoot and final product (and the friendlier the prices will be).

On set

It took a lot of careful setup and special equipment to turn the hardware store into a studio.

There are many people who must be brought together for a successful commercial shoot. Your production team, to begin with. Even a small shoot can need as many as eight to 10 people in production alone.

“A lot of specialists are required for audio, lighting, hair and makeup. You need your producer, director, assistant director. It takes a lot of people,” Pike said.

The creative team also needs to be present. The people who imagined the concept into being, designed the look and wrote the script are key to running a smooth shoot with good results. There are always last-minute needs and adjustments, so having the writer on hand for a quick rewrite is invaluable. Also, the creatives are the most likely to catch it if something on set is not true to the concept, like if the color palette is off-brand.

And of course, a client representative must always be present during shooting to ensure that the client is satisfied with the results. With the client comes the account manager, who makes sure the set is pleasant and accessible to the client and that their concerns and questions get heard.

Keeping all these people and pieces functioning “is like being a duck. You’ve got to keep everything smooth on the surface, but underneath you’re paddling like crazy,” Pike said. “You have to coordinate all these different groups of people to bring the concept to life and address the needs that come up along the way.”

A shoot can take up to 12 hours, even on a day where everything runs smoothly. Setup alone can take two or three hours. Because of the time and costs of running a shoot, shoots are completed in one day whenever possible. This can lead to some pretty long hours on the set.

After the shoot

The final videos were squarely on-brand, offering Westlake customers helpful guides for a wide variety of simple household projects.

Once the shots are on film, three weeks are dedicated to adding the other elements and perfecting the spot.

It starts with the creation of a rough cut—a preliminary edit of the shots to get the sequence viewed and approved by the client. Then, music and voiceovers are added, as well as graphics, such as the company’s logo, and any legal information required. The polished edited cut is color-corrected. Then, the final edit is sent to the client again for final approval.

Once a finalized ad is approved, it is sent out for placement on television to broadcast its message to the world.

As you can see, a lot of time and work goes into creating a 30-second commercial. It’s a long process and requires a large team of creative and technical specialists. But the satisfaction of a carefully crafted and neatly wrapped up 30-second spot never gets old.

With approximately 600,000 words, the Oxford English Dictionary is the longest official dictionary; as stated by The Guinness Book of World Records. And getting longer by the day. If you’re one of those who look at these “initialisms” and say WTF,  there’s even more torture. In February and March a whole bunch of ridiculous words made their way into OED. Here’s just a few:

• La-la land: can refer either to Los Angeles or to a state of being out of touch with reality (and sometimes to both simultaneously.)
• Muffin top: a roll of fat visible above the top of a pair of women’s tight-fitting low-waisted pants.
• Bromance: a close and non-sexual relationship between two men. (I blame Barney from How I Met Your Mother! for this one.)
• Woot: used to express elation, enthusiasm, or triumph
• Nom-nom: used to express pleasure at eating. (Seriously?  Does anyone past the age of 2 say this?)
• Sammich: a sandwich (I can see teachers cringe everywhere.)
• Tanorexia: an obsessive desire to acquire and maintain a suntan, by natural or artificial methods.  (Ummmmm, really?)
• Egosurf: search the internet for instances of one‘s own name or links to one’s own website.
• Buttload: a large number or amount. (I’ll admit I’ve been saying this one for years, but never in writing)
• Tinfoil hat: used in allusion to the belief that wearing a hat made from tinfoil will protect one against government surveillance or mind control by extraterrestrial beings. (aka nut bags)
• Sexting: the sending of sexually explicit photographs or messages via mobile phone.

I don’t see sammich in a spelling bee anytime soon, but as an avid Scrabble player, I’m happy these little electronic jewels are official words in the dictionary.  How soon will the Scrabble iPad app recognize them?  LOL! And TTFN.

If someone posts “Thinking of pizza for dinner” Domino’s could instantly serve up an ad. That potential to be present at the moment someone expresses a desire for something is a very compelling proposition for advertisers.

Facebook is testing the instant ad model among only a small group of users — a mere 1% of the base, but that’s still some 6 million people. This test could make a huge difference in how Facebook ads perform, as well as how they are perceived by users. But, this brave new world raises the usual privacy concerns and Facebook will have to be very careful not to overstep the balance or risk freaking people out.

Campaigns on Facebook have been extremely successful for many big brands, but some analytics firms, including Webtrends, claim that Facebook display ad click-through rate are abysmally low — 0.051% in 2010, or about half the industry average. Low click through rates or not, last year Facebook sold some $1,86 billion in ads, over half of which were self-serve ads purchased directly using Facebook’s targeting tools. And that number is expected to keep increasing.

I wonder what the CPC will be for a chat-triggered ad compared to the other targeting options?

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.

Even before the switch, many companies neglected to include the hyphen. I know we’ve been using the non-hyphenated version for a long time, but continually had to tell our proof readers to stop trying to correct it to match the AP Stylebook.

Cellphone and smartphone as one word instead of two are also being adopted as new Associated Press style guidelines.

Changes that clearly indicate the terms are no longer merely abbreviations for things like electronic mail or cellular telephone — they’re words unto themselves.

So all you copy editors and proofers out there, take note.

So, when you read the sign pictured above, what do you see? The first thing I saw was a big fat “LOL” right in the middle of the sign. It is emphasized by a couple of wavy underlines, apparently to shame and ridicule the person in distress as they meet a watery demise. Then the footnote suggests you call 911.

If you turn the calendar back about 10 years (and I think I’m being generous here for the public at large) I think the sign would be interpreted differently. One might actually see a person flailing their arms above their head as they desperately try to tread water and gasp for air.

But over the last few years at least, the term “LOL” which stands for “laugh(ing) out loud” has become so ubiquitous that whether it’s uppercase or lowercase, people know what it means. That’s what struck me about something as simple as this sign. A part of Internet culture has bled into mainstream culture and changed the way we see things.

This type of thing has always fascinated me, and is pretty simple when you get right down to it. Our language – both written and visual – is based on symbols that have a greater meaning. As designers, programmers, marketers and communicators, it’s our job to understand these symbols and apply them properly to achieve the desired outcomes for our clients. Sometimes, that means evaluating what your current messaging is and making sure it still makes sense. Like the sign above.

It’s also about understanding context for things and being able to observe from multiple perspectives. There are plenty of stories about poorly chosen domain names and ads that have unintentionally used the wrong words due to cultural differences in language. Just goes to show that you really do need to pay attention to what’s going on.

If you sign people need any help redesigning your Drowning Signs, hit us up.

Oh – and be sure to call 911 and then see if you can help, should you see someone drowning out in the real world. Laughing out loud at them wouldn’t be cool.

John Rector, author and Omaha resident

John decided to set his novel in Omaha. He even decided to move here at some point. Needless to say his quote in the World Herald came as a bit of a shock. He said:

“As an outsider coming to Nebraska, it’s a pretty grim state, especially in winter.” The big dome sky, the flatness, the fact that it’s gray so much of the year. “It’s kind of easy to imagine grim characters and grim plots in such a desolate state.”

What did we do to deserve that? Has he ever been to upstate New York in the winter? We’re working so hard here to let the rest of the world know that we’re a much cooler place than you’d think and then this public figure makes a public declaration about our grimness. Not helping!

After reading this article I became so incensed that I e-mailed the author to share my opinion of his recent PR foray. His response was admirable if not compassionate:

“Aren’t different perspectives a wonderful thing?  Imagine how dull life would be if we all saw the world the same way?”

Kind of a cop out in my opinion. I can only hope that his fame matches his ability to accurately convey Nebraska. Then at least the collateral damage would be minimal.

I fail to understand why people of note often feel a need to knock Nebraska when it comes up in the course of conversation. Recently a national news program reported that Nebraska had come in number one in a poll for happiest places in Nebraska – financially speaking. What an enormous honor. The perfectly coifed and elegantly attired reporter felt a need to speculate on why that might be. Her speculation went something like this:

“I would guess that Nebraska is such a mundane place that people don’t expect much so the fluctuation with the economy would not cause them any hardship because that’s all they know.”

Really? You call yourself a news reporter?

Come on people! Either do your homework and comment fairly or leave us the hell alone!

Ninety years is a long time, longer than you’d think.  To really put into perspective how long we’ve been in the ad game, here’s just a small sample of some things we’re older than.  You might be surprised.

1. Plutonium – 1934

Ok, well plutonium is probably older than us…but it was discovered only a few years ago.  Before you go grabbing a hefty supply and time traveling in your DeLorean to play lead guitar at your patents Enchantment Under The Sea Dance…just make sure you handle with care. (Back to the Future reference, anyone?)

2. Disney – October 16, 1923

We’ve got Mickey, or Steamboat Willie at the time, by just a little bit. But while we were executing killer marketing strategies, the “Happiest Place On Earth” was still endless swampland and “It’s a Small World” hadn’t been stuck in our heads yet.

3. Nachos – 1943

I was surprised by this. I thought nachos were created by a kiss from the mighty Goddess Athena in 414 B.C., or maybe they just should have been. It’s hard to believe our founders were still motivated to get up in the morning before the best food ever was invented.

4. Television – 1927

Believe it or not, advertising wasn’t always dominated by television. While we’ve certainly had our share of successful television campaigns, the agency’s first assignment was to protect a private energy company from the threat of public power.  Fortunately we’ve branched out from this niche.

5. Keith Richard’s Liver – December 18, 1943

This one is tricky, technically Keith Richard’s liver is only 67 but I’m pretty sure that this liver is medically considered petrified, which through traditional means generally takes a few hundred years. Either way we’ve been making ads before anybody painted it black.

Other Notable Selections:

SPAM (food) – July 5, 1937

SPAM (annoying internet trash) – Mid 1990’s

Chrysler – 1925

Lucky Charms -1964

Betty White – January 17, 1922

Space Flight – October 4, 1957

Hawaii – August 21, 1959

Killer Bees – 1957

Duct Tape – 1942

(This is the first in a series of posts celebrating Bozell’s 90 Yrs in Advertising)

Scott Bishop is the Director of Social Influence at Bozell.  You can read more marketing insights here or get them on our Facebook Page, inquire about speaking opportunities here or follow him on Twitter.

Earlier this week I had my first exposure to “funeral Facebook”. A relative passed away and we were sent a link to the funeral home web site where she was being featured. The link took me directly to her page replete with a picture of the deceased, her obituary, a viewing and services schedule as well as a Facebook-type section that enabled visitors to post messages about her to her loved ones. Not surprising when you consider how invasive social media has become in our lives. Some of us can’t have our first cup of coffee in the morning without sharing the experience with hundreds of our closest friends – but I digress.

In the past when extended family or acquaintances have passed away I have either called or Hallmarked the immediate family with a heartfelt sentiment designed to offer any possible comfort to those remaining. These sentiments are extremely personal and carefully considered. People are so vulnerable during these times.

This time I gazed upon her funeral page, read a few of the other very personal quotes and contemplated sharing my deeply moving feelings with a sizeable percentage of upstate New York and anyone else who happened upon this site. It felt weird. And creepy. Of course that about sums up the entire macabre experience that has been created by our society in regards to dying and interment – yet another digression.

I dutifully posted my sentiments for public scrutiny whereupon an e-mail arrived with the following message:

Your Life Tributes account has been successfully created and can be used to continue to add to Virginia’s memorial website.

You can also use your Life Tributes account log-in information on any of the hundreds of funeral home websites that are powered by Life Tributes.

Is it me or is this just too weird? Those who know me are aware that I have embraced Facebook and blogging, hell even Twitter but “funeral Facebook” takes voyeurism to a whole new level. I appreciate that the funeral industry is chomping at the bit to get into the mainstream and that they’re trying everything possible to provide moments that affirm the life of lost loved ones but things seem to be going a little too far in my opinion. As much as I don’t want to see a life sized cardboard cutout of the deceased next to his/her coffin, I really don’t want to be part of a fan club for someone who can’t, by virtue of recent occurrences, be interactive.

I guess in closing I should just comment that – I’ve got my Life Tribute account – have you?

That’s the first time I’ve made that particular bone-headed move, but I’ve done a couple of other things like that. And it made me realize that I make assumptions about products for a variety of reason.

I assumed that the shampoo would be quasi transparent and the conditioner would be pearl-ish and that the conditioner would be placed adjacent to the shampoo in my hotel room. It wasn’t.

I never read my shampoo or conditioner label at home, I just know by the bottle and packaging (and where I keep them), which is which. I don’t have to read a label at the store, I know what I want to buy and I just grab.

I make assumptions based on package or label color. I once meant to buy Excedrin PM and got home with Tylenol PM instead. The look alike.

I assume that the hottest salsas will use more red in their package design and milder ones will use more green. I gravitate to the red packages.

Just recently I noticed that the half and half I buy had a fat free notation on the package. I’ve been buying the product forever, but I didn’t know that. And when I thought about it, I was puzzled. How can half and half be fat free? That makes no sense to me. And when I  googled it to find out, I was determined to not buy that product anymore.

I’m a voracious reader. I consume books. But obviously I don’t read labels. And I don’t think I’m alone.

But from now on, I’ll read the labels of those little bottles in my hotel room before I use them. The upside is that my hair is really clean and pretty soft.

Ok. Whew. Let’s see. I am coming off of a couple of months of truly the most intense points ever in the last couple of years. Stressed, strapped, stretched and inhaled is the running theme for me and I am sure for more than a few others. It was a crazy time for the team. Needless to say, the hours being what they were…what was I exposed to that was new, cool, inspiring and blog-worthy? Usually there are cool design/art functions to blog about or really cool happenings, but the only thing happening was the party at my desk.

Whatever it was had to stream through my headphones. So I would like to bring you – nothing visual this time – but purely sound inspiration. Here is a list of the most amazing CD’s to listen to while you have to crank on that impending stack of projects; or if you can’t leave your desk and need to get your groove on chair-dancing; or if you are bored and simply want an inspiring and energizing distraction.

Cut Copy

1. Cut Copy – latest release Zonoscope
This electro pop band from Melbourne’s latest cd is full of rhythmic and hypnotic offerings. The sound is very reminiscent of bands of the 80’s era…pop-driven melodies that climb and build to climaxes that leave your feet stomping. Many of the songs remind me of waking up on a Saturday morning, the sun is coming up, the birds are chirping, you put on a strong pot of coffee and crank the tunes. Pure caffeinated sunshine full of energy. That’s what this CD is. Keep your eyes out for the official release on February 8th.

Cee Lo

2. Cee Lo – latest release Ladykiller
The song “Wildflower” is amazing. As my coworker Tony said (which was perfect) the song reminded him of Diana Ross circa early 1970’s spinning around and around in Central Park while autumn leaves fall down around her in slow motion. YES! It is uplifting and just takes your heart out of your chest and soars with it high above the office, the building and the city you are sitting within….please please give this a listen. If you are having a bad day, this will release you from the demons!

On a more introspective note, the song titled “No One’s Gonna Love You” is gorgeous and makes me wilt in its presence. Cee Lo’s voice is fan-freakin-tastic and he has to be one of the best vocalists of our time. He takes me back to the Motown years – but a modern take on it.

Deadmau5

3. Deadmau5 – latest release 4×4=12
This CD is not for the faint at heart. It is electronica and reminds me of the raves that we used to hit up in the wee hours of the morn. It’s the kind of thumping, droning, hypnotic sound that can help launch you through a project without getting distracted. It transcends you to another planet. So it’s all about you, the dark space surrounding and the heavy beats that draw you into new parts of your mind. “Raise your Weapon” is intense and relevant for the current state of the world. Provocative to say the least.

I am going to end it here with the C’s and D’s, because if I try to digest too much music at a time, I lose interest in all of it. So definitely have a listen, especially if you have some long desk hours ahead. This music will inspire you through those hours and into the weekend with a smile on your face – maybe even enough to blog about it.

We’ve been in our new digs about 20 days now and the box mountain has been whittled to a mole hill. The place ain’t pretty yet, but it is definitely habitable.

We are loving the locale and the space. And we’ve already had a lot of comedic moments and experiences that are creating new agency lore.

This was a before picture (soon the after photos), but you can see the floor is very old.

There’s the floor. It’s a beat-up-104-year-old-solid-wood floor that looks really cool, but is not level in any sense of the word. We knew that going in and our architect and furniture builder planned around it and created leveling systems because it’s historic and city code said we couldn’t do much with it. It does make rolling from space to space pretty easy if the route is downhill.

Then there was the flood. This was on day 3. Apparently some pipe broke in one of the lofts several floors above us (on a weekend) and it flooded that unit, the one below it, and the one below that, before it rained down on us. Luckily we were down there moving around stuff and caught it pretty early with trash cans everywhere or we would have had a major problem.

Then it was the heat. Five furnaces heat the place, but three gave up the fight one day THEN the one in the parking garage below us went out, so the floor temp was something like 42 and the air temp in the place was barely 60. The thermostats didn’t work. We couldn’t figure out how to regulate the system. (We’ve been keeping the service people in business.) Finally we’ve mastered the temperature system and got everything working smoothly  — sort of — a couple of the conference rooms were too hot today.

But there have been two subjects that have created the funniest experiences and most bizarre stories. The first is our new security system which we’ve managed to set off something like 14 times in 2 weeks.

We had an office tutorial, but like most things, hands on experience is a better teacher. We set it up to auto arm late at night in case it didn’t get armed by the last one out or by cleaning crews. What we didn’t realize was that if someone came in late at night to work, and disarmed it with their electronic fob, that the system would eventually automatically re-arm itself.  (The thing has motion detectors.) The first person to find out about the auto re-arming was a web designer who came in late at night to work on something. After an hour or so, he got up from his desk and all hell broke loose. After getting it shut down and dealing with the security company, his email (I was in a hotel in KC when I read it) said ‘I now know what the alarms sound like. I stood up from my desk and nearly crapped my pants.’  I was laughing so hard I nearly cried. His tweet was equally amusing.

A couple days later, a client crash and burn project meant a team needed to work into the wee hours. They set it off four times that night. Another night we set it off a few more times. So there’s been several late night/early morning calls to our cell phones from the security company. I doubt any of us will forget the secret code now that we’ve had to use it so many times. (I’m sure our neighbors in the lofts above us don’t like us too much right now.) We’ve re-done the alarm system to avoid that chaos in the future. Who knew? Our old space had total building security with cards and computer-controlled elevator access, so we never gave it much thought because everything was managed by full-time building staff. But in an older space, where you have to retro-fit stuff, it becomes more of a trick to get it just right.

Then there is the subject that is generating the biggest gross-out-factor, the biggest laughs and the most rank jokes around the place. Crap. Literally. Of the animal and human kind.

Turns out a lot of tenants in the lofts have dogs. And they take them out to do their business right in front of our space — in the lawn, in the parking lot and even on the sidewalk. And no one (or very few) picks up after their dogs. There are landmines everywhere. And come Spring, the smell is going to be pretty ripe.

We had pee (as evidenced by the yellow snow) right in front of our door today. And a turd about 10 feet from it. I love animals, as does most everyone in our office. I have several pets and I cry at those ASPCA commercials, but I can’t imagine NOT picking up after my pet. One, it’s the right thing to do. Two, it’s the law — by city ordinance you must clean up after your pet. We need to figure out a solution to this one before the thaw.

Of the human kind, you are wondering?

Well…during an internal meeting in one of our new conference room there was a nasty smell. People looked at one another and denied culpability. We brushed if off the first time thinking that, he who dealt it was just too embarrassed to fess up. After the third or fourth incidence, we started looking around the space. We had an architectural half ceiling created in that room when it was built to make it more cozy, and as we looked up into the loft space above it, we saw a pipe labeled ‘waste’. (Our contractors must have labeled all the pipes during construction.) We thought maybe it was leaking, but that wasn’t the problem. Finally after crawling around, we discovered the source. Turns out the bathrooms sit right next to this conference room, and their vents go nowhere. They just vent into the open loft space, with the pipes just laying loose on top the restroom roof. And because of the airflow in that area, it pushes the smells right into our conference space. Double gross! We inherited that problem. Apparently it’s been like that. Needless to say, we have HVAC people coming in to fix that problem. In the meantime, that room isn’t getting much use.

Despite all the craziness and odd things, we are enjoying the ride. And we’ll get it all resolved. Eventually. Our punch list of to dos is still long, but everyday we make major progress and hope to be photo and tour ready in a couple weeks.

P.S. Last night our entire email system crashed and it wasn’t until 4pm today that Matt was able to get it back online. I don’t think that had anything to do with the building, but between being e-mail free today (and feeling less stressed as a result) and getting a great welcome gift from Bliss, it was a good day. Bring on tomorrow!

What could be better than to head out to a local eatery with a good book and enjoy a nice relaxing lunch? And it did seem to help. I even declined the waitress’ invitation to try an extremely tempting bloody mary – opting instead for the more sensible virgin mary. And it still helped. 

Even though it is 18 degrees out I decided to take a bit of a post luncheon stroll. I found myself in a local gift shop and selected a few choice items. Feeling even better now!

Time to head back to the office. As I reached my car – the one parked at the meter I had just recently stuffed with coins, I saw the bright color of a $16 parking ticket. &*%%#$$%&!!!

Never before had it occurred to me that a parking ticket was the price of supporting local retail establishments. Somehow, in an economy where every store is offering deep discounts to stay afloat, it seems as though we’re sending the wrong message when we encourage folks to hurry back to the car or risk getting a parking ticket the second the meter clicks off. Not to mention the fact that whatever fallout occurs on my end – it’s on your head Ms. Meter Maid!

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/

The New Location: 1022 Leavenworth

We spent the first workday of the new year in our new office space. The place is a mess of boxes and stuff that still sits where the movers put it down, but the place feels great. And as we get it all put together it will be amazing.

The move was quick, but it was a long time in the making. We first starting pondering a move to a less corporate space when we bought the company back from Interpublic Group in 2001. But the cost of a big move combined with debt from the buyback put the dream on the back burner. In 2005 we checked out several spaces but found nothing that thrilled us enough to justify the cost and disruption of moving. In 2008 we started looking again, but as the economy slid into depression so too did our dreams of open, collaborative spaces and a more creative neighborhood.

The "Before" photo. When Halo was in the space.

When we started looking again in the summer of 2010 we didn’t want to draw it out. We wanted to make a move fast. And we did. Mainly because we lucked out in finding a space we fell in love with before it went on the market. And while it needed some work and upgrades, it was something that could be done in mere months — not a year like most spaces. So we made the decision in September and swarms of movers descended upon us last Thursday. We thought the last week of the year would be somewhat slow in terms of workload, but it turned out to be a busy one.

They say hope for the best, plan for the worst. Well it’s so nice when everything goes right and the best happens. We found a great space that was exactly what we wanted. We were able to find reserved parking for all our staffers right nearby. We had a great architect (Randy Brown) and contractors that did everything at light speed — from wiring to HVAC, to an all new phone system and room buildouts, to custom building 60 workstations and book cases, not to mention worktables and more. And the weather even cooperated on the days of our move. Everything worked like clockwork.

Boxes. That pretty much sums up what the place looks like right now. But soon it will emerge.

Fantastic Bozell teams organized the entire process, and all things considered, the whole thing went incredibly smoothly. We even had full network access the day we moved so that those who had impending client projects and deadlines could work without disruption. We have amazing people and I thank all of them for all their hard work and never-ending passion.

We love being downtown near the Old Market. The creative atmosphere is strong. The neighborhood is energizing. And the lunch spots…well they beat the heck out of West O.

As we put the place together, we’ll post some photos. And stay tuned, because we’ll have an open house to share some food and drinks and show off the new digs.

Happy New Year!

More on our move:
Silicon Prairie News
Bozell on Facebook

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.

I still love that tradition. Just my family on Christmas Eve, together, and sharing great food, drink, music, stories, and exchanging gifts. Of course, the fireplace being sully stoked and ready for the occasional cardboard box or wrapping paper ball is part of it. Nothing else burns quite like corrugated cardboard, as the material heats up and flames shoot gently out of the corrugated edges.

As kids, we’d anxiously await the moment when the steady stream of food tapered off and it got to the point where we just knew that it was going to be time to open presents. The temptation of seeing all those brightly colored packages wrapped up under the tree for weeks was always too much to bear, but we knew that waiting would be worth it. Plus, there was no other choice.

We’d take turns handing out presents and opening everything. We were never the everybody-rip-into-it-at-once type of family. We’d all take turns opening something. I appreciated how that made the entire experience take longer. I sure wanted to rip them all open, but it was really nice to be able to actually see one brother fake pleasure at getting socks or another actually freak out over getting the chemistry set he’d always wanted.

Then there was that One Special Gift that I just knew would be the thing that would make this the Best Christmas Ever. Inevitably, though, after all the unwrapping was done, that One Special Gift would not be part of the pile. The feeling I had at that point was quite mixed. Disappointment for not having received something that I know I clearly indicated I wanted. Guilt for wanting one MORE thing when I had a pile of presents at my feet. But there was something else – hope. Hope that when Santa visited overnight, maybe that One Special Gift would be the one thing that Santa remembered.

Santa is very special. He’s a guy that dedicates his entire life to making and delivering the special things that kids want most for Christmas. So it wasn’t until I was a little bit older that I noticed that nearly every Christmas Eve, there was one thing that inevitably wasn’t part of the family gift giving experience. One thing that I still held out hope for. One more thing that I could anticipate, and grow excited for.

Christmas morning, I was usually the first one up. I liked being the first to see whether Santa had come, and I liked having a small portion of the morning to myself. I also knew that the sooner I got up, the sooner I would have some clue as to what Santa had left for us.

Running out into the living room, the fireplace doors would be ajar, there would be soot tracked on the hearth, and the cookies for Santa and carrot for Rudolph were always nibbled on, but not always gone. Santa also would always leave a note. It was exquisitely written in handwriting that could only be Santa’s. I’d never seen it anywhere except for on Santa’s note.

Then there were the packages. And Stockings. Santa had special wrapping paper that everything he ever brought us was wrapped in. I had no idea how there could be that much wrapping paper that Santa’s gifts were wrapped in it every year, but he also has flying reindeer, so  he can pretty much make anything happen. And the stockings were so overloaded with small, fun things and candy and treats that they had been taken down from hanging under the mantle and laid on the hearth. They would nearly be bursting!

So I would survey the scene. Which ones were for me? Which ones were for my brothers? Was anyone else awake yet? How long would I have to wait? At least I’d already turned on the Christmas Tree lights. Their multi-colored glow being the only light in the room. It was really very peaceful and comforting to be the only one awake at that time, knowing that I got to have that moment to myself to feel so lucky that Santa had visited us. That I wasn’t too much of a problem kid that I still got something from Santa at the end of a year.

Then I would see it. The one package that looked like it could be the One Special Gift that I’d been hoping for. I knew that I’d need to save that one for last when we started opening Santa’s gifts. Then my brothers would get up, and Mom and Dad would roll out of bed, too. That’s when the anticipation would grow. But of course, coffee had to be made first so that Mom and Dad could settle into their chairs and brace themselves for the rest of the day. I always thought that the coffee excuse was just another part of Santa’s Plan on how to make the experience more intense.

When we started opening, this was more of the every-man-for-himself flurry of gift wrap. We’d work our way through the stockings and then onto the last couple things that Santa had left. Then I’d have to pause to consider the last package in front of me.

Was it The One? What if it wasn’t? Could I be happy enough with whatever it was that Santa wouldn’t think I was just another greedy little kid? Could I fake enough excitement that my parents wouldn’t be able to tell that I was actually let down? I mean – I surely already had enough great gifts that I shouldn’t be sad. If the inverse had been true, and I got the one thing I wanted and nothing else, then I would have been disappointed in another way. Well… there was only one way to find out. Open it.

What I know now is that Santa was a master of experience design. He had his hooks in your mind for as long as you could remember. He had songs that reminded you that you’d better be good for goodness sake. But it was more than that at our house. It was special. Everything about Santa was like a symphony. The parts all went together to build to this crescendo that left you there, with your family in the glow of the Christmas Tree on Christmas morning with the feeling that you were truly loved and that even though that elated feeling was related to having received a thing, that I still knew behind all of it, it wasn’t about the thing at all. It was about how you were supposed to feel.

And it felt good.

So this year, as I look at Christmas approaching, I am very excited for my own son’s experience with Christmas and Santa. He’s old enough now that it’s all sinking in, creating wonder and amazement. I know he already loves the tree and lights. The music. The colors and decorations. I can’t wait to see his face on Christmas Morning. I can’t wait to see him witness Santa’s exquisite handwriting. I can’t wait to sense that he feels the magic that all of these elements of the Christmas season bring. And to know that hopefully, he can experience the joy and love and amazing sense of warmth and wonder that I felt – and still feel – at Christmastime when I’m with my family, friends and loved ones.

And I’ll do everything I can to help Santa in his job of letting everyone have a wonderful experience at Christmas. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas as well.

Cover of 2010 Borsheims LUX Book

Borsheims Jewelry and Gifts, for example, followed a similar business method in recent years. The Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway company continued to sell high-end pieces despite the economic downturn but kept communication under the radar with its high-end clientele. The company felt that the economy’s inevitable upswing would bring back its upscale buyers. But in considering the poor state of the economy, Borsheims scaled back its typical advertising of glitz and glam products, knowing it was only a matter of time for LUX to rear its diamond-studded head.

With the gentle upswing of the economy, consumers are opening up – but with new intentions behind their purchases. High-end consumers are no longer making purchases based on status but are buying for meaning. Gone are the days of conspicuous consumption (sorry 1980′s!) and in comes a new style of buying. Even though buyers are still purchasing Jaguar cars, Hermes bags and high-end jewelry and watches, they are only purchasing if they think the quality is worth the price. The value of an item is now seen differently.

“Now a handful of companies are trying to put the “lux” back in luxury by introducing products with more handcraftsmanship and detailing. Sure, these products cost more. But the companies that make them are betting people will be willing to spend more to get more.”

http://money.cnn.com/2009/12/02/news/economy/luxury_comeback.fortune/

In response to this new buying trend, companies are developing lines of “artisan collections,” which are low production (sometimes even one-of-a-kind pieces) that they can charge high dollar for. Luxury companies feel that if people are going to spend the money now, they should offer distinctive products with elevated quality. As a result, purchasers of these items view them as handcrafted works of art.

Christopher Designs spread in the Borsheims LUX Book

And Borsheims’ latest LUX book exemplifies just that. Starting with a unique 7” x 7” shape, the 60-page piece uses only clean, white backgrounds, allowing the product to really stand out. By showcasing these high-end artisan pieces in a gallery style, it creates a more approachable look while provoking desire. Any personality can look at any one of the items and make a personal connection with it. And to provide even greater value for the luxury consumer, the LUX book features in-depth descriptions of each item and explores the materials used – like crystal, gems or precious metals – and any interesting techniques used in the piece’s creation.

Without a fully recovered economy, not all companies are brave enough to pursue the changing buying patterns of elite consumers. Borsheims, though, is giving its upscale clientele reasons to buy in spite of the recession. The early results of the LUX book were very positive so far. Multiple pieces from the Lux book have already sold – which shows us the piece is working, and appealing to the high end demographic. With a unique combination of business savvy and unmatched quality products, Borsheims is putting the trust and “lux” back in luxury.

I was stunned. So many people have embraced the mantra: reduce/reuse/recycle. They go far out of their way and spend a considerable amount of extra money to help the planet. And now these bastions of earth friendliness, the caring companies with a corporate conscience who are entreating us to join in and enable them to save the planet have become the enemy.

Now who can you trust? It seems unthinkable to keep providing money to the lying SOBs but what’s the alternative? Stop supporting green (or faux green) living altogether? I honestly don’t have the answer.

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?