August 30, 2004
Blogging Goes Mainstream
by Tobi Elkin
Irreverent soliloquies on obscure pop bands from Asia, blow-by-blow accounts of fishing trips in Alaska, hand signal guides, and rapid-fire political debates spanning the ideological spectrum - virtually any topic on someone's mind, is fodder for bloggers. Blogs can be full of useless, arcane drivel and raunchy gossip.
In the so-called blogosphere, everybody's a content creator, editor, publisher, diarist, and critic. Quirky and acerbic rants are par for the course. Once largely an underground phenomenon, blogging has gone mainstream, attracting marketers particularly eager to get in front of hip 18- to 34-year-olds and savvy influencers.
To be sure, the majority of the blogosphere's millions toil alone for the pure pleasure of it, faces glued to the glowing screen of a PC monitor on a 24/7 basis. They are addicted to the art of blogging and are passionate about the process as a means of self-expression and creativity. They like the concept of self-publishing, building a community, and creating a dialogue based on common interests. But as with any emerging media form, marketers are racing to figure out how to harness the blog. Many will view blogs as yet another tool with which to target niche audiences of tastemakers and influencers.
Probably the best example of the buzz-generating power of blogs is Gawker Media, publisher of several popular blogs that combined have managed to rack up some 15 million total page views per month. Monthly unique page views for each property range from 300,000 to 900,000.
Gawker Media's portfolio consists of Gawker, Gizmodo, Fleshbot, Kinja, Wonkette, and Defamer. Currently the toast of the mediarati, Gawker Media has a target demographic aged 26 to 35, according to advertising data on its Web site, although founder and publisher Nick Denton says he's focused primarily on 18- to 34-year-olds. Either way, the influence of Gawker Media properties extends far beyond those groups. Wonkette's avid following includes Washington, D.C., power brokers, wily political operatives, and elected representatives and their staffs.
Posted by richard ting at August 30, 2004, 12:03 PM
August 27, 2004
A Site for Banner Ad Freaks
Tari Akpodiete has what might be called a mildly unnatural preoccupation with banner ads. For the last couple of years, she's been copying just about every one she's come across onto a website, and in the process has built what she believes is the largest collection of such ads in the world.
This month, the Toronto web designer decided to make that collection publicly available. And her site, Banner Report, has become at once a veritable banner ad museum and a tool where designers of new ads can investigate the countless styles that have been tried in the past.
"I thought it would be a good resource for creative types and people who might have an interest in that kind of thing," Akpodiete said. "It has become a little bit obsessive, though."
Perhaps, but the 15,000 banner ad samples she's gathered do display a remarkable range of styles, features, dimensions and animation, all searchable by keyword, size and type. For designers involved in making the next generation of banners -- an advertising medium often criticized as annoying and ineffective -- more attractive and profitable, Akpodiete's site may well be a gold mine.
"It gives designers a feel for what banners work and what doesn't," said Marque Guilbeault, the creative director of online marketing firm Contestix. "A lot of banner designs are based on the original site that (they are) representing. This can give designers creative ideas beyond just banner ads."
Posted by richard ting at August 27, 2004, 01:01 PM
August 25, 2004
Mobile Media Market Surges, Interactive Features Become Prevalent
by Ross Fadner
New data from Enpocket's quarterly mobile marketing report, Mobile Media Monitor, shows that mobile phone ownership and usage continues to increase rapidly. The study's findings reveal that 128 million US adults now use a mobile phone, and usage of different interactive mobile features like ringtones, games, and text messaging continues to surge.
Mobile phone penetration increased 8 percent from 53 to 61 percent in the third quarter, according to the results. Mobile, in general, is often thought of as a youth medium, but its highest penetration actually occurs in the 35-49 age group, where 7 out of 10 people have a mobile phone. Usage and income are also intertwined: 83 percent of those earning $75K or higher regularly use a mobile phone versus 38 percent among those who earn less than $20,000 per year.
Despite this, most mobile marketing initiatives are geared towards younger demographic segments. For example, on the strength of several interactive text messaging initiatives by major media companies, text messaging, received a quarter-over-quarter boost. Three percent of mobile phone owning adults have sent text messages to a TV show-more than double the tally from last quarter-and two percent of adults have sent text messages to a radio station, also more than double the second quarter figure.
In other key findings, Java and BREW mobile game downloads grew a whopping 75 percent quarter over quarter, from 4.4 million downloads in the second quarter to 7.7 million downloads in the third quarter. Mobile game downloads doubled quarter over quarter among 18-25 year old phone owners: in the second quarter, 11 percent of 18-25 phone owners were downloading games versus the third quarter, in which 22 percent downloaded games. For advertisers looking to penetrate this fast growing mobile segment, advergaming is a viable consideration point.
Posted by richard ting at August 25, 2004, 12:57 PM
August 23, 2004
Trends In E-Mail Marketing: Dynamic, Personalized Messages
While e-mail is an accepted and proven form of delivering marketing messages, professional marketers are looking for better ways to build customer loyalty and generate a greater return on their marketing investments.
The future of e-marketing is utilizing dynamic content - or matching messaging and offers to recipients' demographic data. Though this approach is much more involved than standard e-mail marketing practices, it yields much higher results, as well as longer-term and more value-added relationships.
Dynamic content refers to sending highly personalized e-mails based on database-driven customer preferences. It can take the form of customized subject lines, greetings, offers or content and accompanying images within the body of an e-mail. This strategy allows marketers to send timely, relevant messages that resonate with recipients on an individual level. Dynamic content applications are becoming more readily available as add-on features to many e-mail marketing software packages.
Posted by richard ting at August 23, 2004, 12:56 PM
August 21, 2004
The Future of Media, MIT-Style
By David Cohen
August 18, 2004
Last week, I visited the MIT Media Laboratory in Cambridge, MA. Though Interpublic and McCann have been financial supporters of the lab throughout the years, I've never had the opportunity to visit and tour the facilities. With some clients funding research, I was given able to accompany a group of visitors to the lab for a one-day immersion session.
All I can say is, that's some very cool stuff.
Though it's impossible to grasp, in an eight-hour visit, all the work being conducted at the lab, we did get to sample many different research areas. Some of that research is direct applicable to interactive marketers.
Our guide was Dr. John Maeda, associate professor of design and computation and director of the Physical Language Workshop at the Media Lab. Maeda is spearheading research that embraces the concept of "simplicity." As reported by The New York Times (May 20, 2004), "Despite the lip service paid to 'ease of use,' 'plug and play,' and 'one-click shopping,' simplicity is an endangered quality in the digital world... and it is time to break free from technology's intimidating complexity." Think Google: simple, quick, intuitive.
Posted by richard ting at August 21, 2004, 09:57 PM
August 20, 2004
Consumer-Generated Marketing
By Dawn Anfuso, Editor
Word-of-mouth isn't new, but Web enables marketers to tap into it (first of two parts). The conversations that consumers have with one another online -- in message boards, blogs, email listservs and product review sites -- represent the largest collection of word-of-mouth data that has ever existed. BuzzMetrics, a research and intelligence company, was created to mine these conversations and uncover market insight. We talked with Jonathan Carson, president and CEO of BuzzMetrics, to learn more about how marketers can leverage the word-of-mouth channel.
iMediaConnection: You're calling it word-of-mouth. We've been using the term consumer-generated publishing or marketing. Are we talking about the same thing -- blogs, discussion lists, and so on? What else is included in this category?
Carson: When we are talking about word-of-mouth, we are talking about the conversations and commentary that consumers create. It is the person-to-person spreading of ideas. Specifically, BuzzMetrics focuses on all of the online dialogue consumers engage in, including message boards, blogs, email lists, product review sites, chats, corporate gripe sites and personal home pages among other things. These are the traditional forms of content, but there are other very exciting types on the horizon. Huge numbers of individuals are posting photographs online, which is kind of an extension of the old Web cams. Social networking sites have added a whole new element of communication, and they introduce personal reputation systems and rankings on a global scale. These could have huge ramifications for marketers.
iMediaConnection: How is consumer-generated publishing affecting marketing efforts?
Carson: Already, this content is having a huge impact on certain vertical sectors, whether marketers are engaged in it or not. It has been well documented that the entertainment industry is largely driven by this chatter, and so online buzz campaigns have become a standard part of its marketing mix. Nobody doubts the power of this channel in the political world, either.
But we also see tremendous levels of shopping research occurring through these channels. Users read the recommendations that other users post to help them research their purchase decisions. Perhaps more exciting is the direct engagement that takes place as part of the shopping process, which we see all the time. For example, someone goes into a forum and asks for recommendations for a product purchase, and existing owners come out of the woodwork to endorse or slam the product. If you are trying to decide which $3,000 plasma TV to buy, who are you going to trust -- the 20-year-old sales clerk at Circuit City or an online super consumer whose passion in life is to track the high-end home-theatre market? These influencers are closing big deals every day.
Posted by richard ting at August 20, 2004, 09:44 PM
August 17, 2004
Mobile Marketing's Red Hot Summer
From new .MP domain names to wearable devices and astro forecasts, mobile's heating up. If it seems like everyone under the sun is talking or texting on a mobile this summer, you're probably right. OVUM Research's prediction that the number of wireless devices worldwide will exceed 1.5 billion in 2004 is coming true. Pastel-tinted, multi-modal handhelds and "power e-wear" are de rigueur this summer for the new techno-chic connected generation.
The hottest sport for savvy brand leaders and marketers this season is leap-frogging to the forefront of this mobile marketing movement. To keep you ahead of the game, here are some of the best opportunities for you to cash in on mobile commerce, content and community.
At the top of the mobile marketer's list of resources is last week's launch by Saipan DataCom, Inc. of the DotMP ".mp" Internet top-level domain (TLD) package that includes a complete mobile Internet content platform with a suite of mobile content publishing tools. The previously unavailable .mp extension is the only TLD dedicated solely for Mobile Internet sites. All .mp domain names (acmehats.mp, for example) display properly on mobile phones. Gib Bintliff, the firm's president, believes that users will easily equate .mp with the mobile Internet, because "mp" is synonymous with "mobile phone".
One in every 100 people owns a domain name. Marketing applications for dotMP abound, especially in light of VeriSign's figure that says one in 100 people on the planet own a domain name. More than 63 million Web sites are already online and over 4.7 million new registrants joined the list of domain owners in the first quarter of 2004, a 21 percent growth year-on-year. GenY mobile favorites alone could span from Nike.mp to Snapple.mp to AmericanIdol.mp.
Enough daydreaming. Don't forget that many trademark holders often engage in defensive registrations of newly available TLDs. However, Bintliff says, "dotMP is not about brand protection -- it's about brand projection."
Posted by richard ting at August 17, 2004, 03:00 PM
August 03, 2004
Spot On: The Halo 2 hype hoax
The "ilovebees.com" URL at the end of the Halo 2 trailer sparks August 24 release rumors; in fact, it's a complex combination of alternate-reality game, story spoiler, and sales pitch.
Last week, the Halo 2 trailer unspooled in movie theaters across the country. Besides eliciting loud cheers from gamers, the trailer also launched one of the more baffling viral marketing campaigns in years.
The head-scratching began when observant gamers noticed that when the Xbox logo appeared at the end of the trailer, the xbox.com URL at the bottom of the screen was briefly replaced with "www.ilovebees.com." After double-checking that someone hadn't laced their popcorn with mescaline, those who noticed the switch went home and looked up the URL.
What they found appeared to be a laughably amateur site for a Napa, California, bee farm called "Margaret's Honey." But besides offering some unappetizing recipes and a nauseating copy about how honeybees "make life sweet," the site appears to have been the victim of a bizarre hacker attack. After a few seconds, a black screen appears with the following copy: "HALT - MODULE CORE HEMORRHAGE. Control has been yielded to the SYSTEM PERIL DISTRIBUTED REFLEX. This medium is classified, and has a STRONG INTRUSIVE INCLINATION."
Below that is a countdown, which initially said "in [variable] days, network throttling will erode" and changed to "PHASE 1 COMPLETE: Network throttling has eroded" on July 27. After that is a countdown that ends on August 10, which reads, "In [variable] days this medium will metastasize." This is followed by the words "COUNTDOWN TO WIDE AWAKE AND PHYSICAL," beneath which is nestled a countdown clock that ends August 24. The section ends with the ominous words, "Make your decisions accordingly."
Posted by richard ting at August 03, 2004, 01:44 PM
August 02, 2004
Agency Biggies Struggle To Define Role In Rapidly Evolving Interactive Market
by Ross Fadner
Interactive agency bigwigs convened Wednesday at Jupiter Media's annual Advertising Forum in New York to discuss--and quite possibly define--the changing role of ad agencies in a medium that leans heavily on technology and publisher-side solutions.
An interactive ad campaign can involve the effort of marketers, publishers, agencies, third-party technology providers, third-party consultants, campaign optimizers, the ad solutions departments of major publishers and portals such as Google, MSN, and Yahoo!, and--oh yeah--interactive ad shops.
Sarah Fay, president-CEO of Carat Interactive, says there's definitely an element of "co-opetition" going on between agencies and the varying service and solutions providers. "[Carat Interactive] believes in the agencies' role as more of a strategist/consultant," she said. "We live in a world where you need to integrate or die, and you're taken to task if you're not playing ball."
Posted by richard ting at August 02, 2004, 12:10 PM
Traditional ad agencies continue to shun online
Susie Harwood
Traditional ad agencies are still shunning online advertising, forcing media owners to go direct to clients, despite the massive increase in online ad spend. A new breakdown of ad sales figures published by the Interactive Advertising Bureau for the first time revealed that 49% of the £353.6m spent online last year was direct from clients, and only 51% through agencies. Danny Meadows-Klue, chief executive of the IAB, said that this is disproportionate when compared to traditional media channels, where the majority - somewhere between 80% and 90% - of media spend goes through agencies.
'We want online advertising to be a very easy decision for every client and to do that we need to get agencies more involved,' he said. But Greg Paine, director of strategy for interactive marketing at AOL UK, said that although he is seeing more work come through agencies than last year, it's not always easy to get access to them. 'We still have enormous problems getting to talk to strategic planners at traditional agencies who are in charge of budgets. Some of them just don't want to know.' Andrew Walmsley, COO of digital media agency i-level, agreed that traditional agencies haven't done a very good job on the digital side. 'You might think that as an online specialist we're delighted about this, as it enables us to win more work. But the reality is it makes the sector look bad.' But Nigel Gwilliam, head of digital at the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, argued that one of the reasons that online sees a higher volume of direct work is because tools like search have a low entry threshold. This can make it much easier and cheaper for small businesses to market themselves. 'We shouldn't discredit the fact that small businesses can market themselves on the Web,' he said. 'I think it's a very positive thing.'
Posted by richard ting at August 02, 2004, 12:08 PM
Marketers Reveal Dark Side Of Search, Cast Shadow On Agencies
by Ross Fadner
Search engine marketing (SEM) is helping to put the interactive medium back on the map. But as a panel of search marketing professionals noted recently, all is not rosy in the hallowed land of search. Thursday, interactive agencies received a considerable amount of criticism from search engine marketers speaking at the Jupiter Media Advertising Forum in New York City. Kevin Ryan, director of market development and worldwide agency relations for Wahlstrom Interactive, kicked off his presentation by sharing his favorite quotes from top-level SEM executives regarding the role of interactive agencies in search engine marketing. Among them was this direct hit from the CEO of an unnamed, top five SEM firm: "Agencies don't get it. They just don't get it, and they never will." Ryan said that advertisers have three choices when starting a search marketing campaign, they can either: staff up, hire an SEM firm, or force their agency to adapt. The panel, consisting almost exclusively of search engine marketing firm executives, unanimously agreed that the second was the best of the three alternatives presented by Ryan. Ryan pointed out that the tenuous relationship between agencies and SEM firms is exacerbated by clients' overall lack of understanding of SEM. Differences and difficulties in fee structures lie at the crux of the problem. SEM firms think agencies receive too much from sales commissions, while agencies feel that SEM firms demand too much from an already limited budget. Ryan noted that the industry is in need of education and industry standards from organizations like the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO) to help solve these disputes. Dana Todd, co-founder of SEM and Web development outfit SiteLab International, opined that because the search marketing landscape is so cluttered and confusing, the commission model itself might be in jeopardy because "the financial model is so tricky on both sides." Todd added that relationships between SEM firms and agencies can be fundamentally flawed. "You can't control what you can't understand," she said of interactive agencies. Todd said that agencies need to understand that SEM isn't just media buying. As Shari Thurow, Web master and marketing director for GrantasticDesigns.com said, "The hot thing is search advertising. Search engine marketing is not just search advertising," but search engine optimization as well. Thurow noted that this involves boosting clients' natural search results as well, by optimizing their Web sites for keyword crawlers. Clients are often reluctant to do this, but she said that Web development services are crucial to boosting free traffic from search engines. She also noted that agencies are often unwilling to pay for these specialized services. While the bonds tying agencies to SEM firms may be fragile, the interactive industry must not forget that it is still struggling through its recent turnaround on the shoulders of search. As Jupiter analyst Gary Stein noted, "(search marketing) is shaping up to be a marathon, but the last few meters have been treated like a 10K," meaning that SEM firms and interactive shops would do well to slow down, play nicely together, and have faith in the industry's ability to help them work out these kinks.