It's said that whenever you're ahead, you're actually behind because no matter how good you are at what you do there's always someone who is working to knock you off your front runner standing. So it goes with Netflix and Blockbuster. According to Mediapost's Just an Online Minute email vignette today, Blockbuster is gaining ground with 2.2 million online subscribers versus 6 million for Netflix. Of those, about half a million--almost 25%-- joined in the fourth quarter.
What is Blockbuster doing that is different? Allowing people to return the movies to their local Blockbuster and receive a coupon for free rentals...that's taking advantage of the bricks and mortar at the same time they're closing many to save dollars. But the key here is that competition forces people to think more creatively about what they have to work with. That's the power of a brand: the ability to be agile, rethink and get with the program.
In the media world, the name of the game is definitely niche marketing. A great example of this are television ads placed on narrowcast television networks on college campuses. Makes great sense since building brand loyalty is about developing relationships early in the game....although I suspect that many college students have already been brainwashed enough by the time they reach the hallowed halls of academe. Read about Zilo, one such narrowcasting television network. You've got to go where the customers are and such luminaries as Yahoo and GM have all been on Zilo.
I remember watching a movie about the opening of the Oklahoma Territory as a kid and what is etched in my mind is the shot of the wagons racing across the plains, dust spewing into the air with their occupants looking for the perfect spot to stake a claim. It's all come back to me as I return to this blog to comment on the FragmentSphere that is the media universe.
Like the Sooners racing towards their future, everyone in the media is scrambling for position:
SpotRunner receives a $40 million kick to expand it's business from WPP, CBS, et al.
Yahoo on Monday said it would begin a public test of banner-like ads this week with users of the Yahoo Mobile Web service in the U.S. Users can click on interactive ads to see more details of an offer or to call the advertiser.
Comcast has begun testing its own video-sharing site, Ziddio, which would allow users to upload videos, with the best ones to be aired on the cable operator's on-demand service.
Google and more than 50 newspapers nationwide are launching a test program that will place - in newspapers - Google ads for which the search giant cannot find room online. This includes the venerable New York Times.
Microsoft is set to offer downloading content through the Xbox; another step toward Microsoft's plan to make Xbox the centerpiece of the digital home. The content will be available on the Xbox Marketplace, a feature for internet-connected Xbox Live subscriptions.
The Gannett newspapers are moving towards having their newsrooms go on 24 hour shifts to help bring the convergence of online and print; this at a time when newspaper readership is down. If you can't beat them, join them.
It's a worthwhile for media companies to hedge their bets as the media continues to fragment. The risk of not doing anything is far too great to be left out of the game and the millions they spend on promising business models are negligible to them. I bring this up because anyone who's standing still thinking that all things will pass may find themselves sitting on the sidelines.
I'm sure everyone has heard about the Mitsubishi dealer in Ohio who pulled his "Jihad" radio advertising before it's even been heard. Good thinking. And the dealership has publicly apologized. We bring this up because, yes, it's good to attract attention to your business or product, but no, it's not cool to use humor that can potentiallly offend. In fact, using humor in copy can backfire, as witnessed by this situation, and you should be circumspect when humor is offered as a messaging remedy.
As an Air Force veteran I still look up in the sky as the planes land when I pass our local air reserve base. The Air Force has certainly evolved since my time, 1964-68; that's why the website dosomethingamazing.com takes me back. It's intuitive and user friendly, and most importantly works very hard to engage the visitor and begin the sales process.
Will more televesion sets in a home mean more commercials are seen? Depends on your point of view. Yes, advertising dollars are moving online and on mobile phones, etc. but let's think about it for a minute. People still like to watch television, so much so that a very heartening report for the industry this morning from Nielsen Media Report indicates that homes now have more television sets than people. Does that mean folks are watching television more or does it mean flat screens have had an impact on where you can now place sets around the house? According to this report, it seems so. And does it mean that commercials are actually being seen? That continues to be the challenge regardless how many sets are in the house.
The challenge for advertisers is what has always been true: develop relevant and targeted messages that resonate with customers.
I read this essay last night on iMediaConnection by Stacey Lynn Koerner, Embrace Fragmentation, where Ms. Koerner had some profound insights about media fragmentation and how we're responding to it.
As she states: "The last five years have been particularly telling. With digitization at every corner and a plethora of on-demand media in market, the black cloud of increased audience choice has now added increased audience control.
Reactions to the reality have largely been in two camps: the Sky is Falling Camp (whatever will we do?) and the Denial Camp (my audience isn't really shrinking…). Essentially, whatever energy has been expended to actually worry, deny or solve problem has completely overlooked the fact that it may not be a problem at all...Let me put it more simply. Fragmentation is just an opportunity to re-aggregate audiences in more meaningful ways." Amen.
Life is all about change and to think that our industry will not change or is not on cusp of major change is definitely burying our collective heads in the sand. It's the old adage of something either being the worse thing in the world or the greatest opportunity. At REVShare we've seen this as an opportunity to further extend our proven Cost-per-Action model for television. And it means that marketers have the great luck of being in a time when they can grasp opportunity in the new world order. Read the essay...and celebrate media fragmentation with your own contribution to the solution.
In today's MediaWorks Idea of the Week, they highlight a campaign for a new natural juice product introduced in Buenos Aires, Argentina that is ingenuous and successful as sales rose 53% within a month: "Overnight, one block of the busiest street in the capital was transformed as 14,000 fresh oranges were suspended in trees. Branded orange-colored vans patrolled other parts of the city to get consumers to visit the new grove."
The lesson here is that creative risk taking is what marketers have to do in order to succeed...and that takes courage and an equally willing advertiser. Great work.
Peer to peer music sharing is the bane of the music industry, prompting the industry to sue teenagers, grandmothers and everyone in between. This has set forth a bitter struggle between the industry and its customers. People just think the creative endeavors should be free. So, today's LA Times details that "Universal Music Group announced Tuesday that it would license its digital catalog to a website offering free legal downloads. The two-year deal marks a significant shift in an industry long criticized for fighting, rather than harnessing, the Internet's potential.
The new website, backed by New York company SpiralFrog, hopes to make money selling advertisements that play while songs download. In addition to Universal's artists, which include Mariah Carey, Eminem, U2 and Kanye West, SpiralFrog is seeking to license the catalogs of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Group."
But here's the catch: Your downloads come with advertising. And "They won't be allowed to burn songs to a CD. Users also will have to visit the SpiralFrog website once a month to watch more ads. Otherwise, digital locks on the music will make it inaccessible. SpiralFrog's 90-second download is significantly longer than the 15 to 20 seconds it takes to download a ditty from iTunes. The company intends to target current users of illegal peer-to-peer networks who are frustrated by the poor song quality and viruses that thrive in the Internet's seedier corners. Notably, the songs downloaded won't be formatted to play on iPods."
The more the media fragments, the more opportunities present themselves. But the real key here is to be a "media agnostic", meaning that you keep an open mind on what advertising vehicle you use as long as it works.
Adotas published an interesting article by managing editor, Kiran Adithan, yesterday: "Will CPA Stamp Out CPM? Industry Pros Argue Why Per Action Makes a Better Impression." As the leader in television CPA, it's great to see the discussion of this model as more and more advertisers are going to a more measurable and response-driven form of advertising. In this age of media fragmentation, CPA is the way to go....Read the article and the comments....it's good dialogue and educational.
What does Paris Hilton have to do with marketing? Everything! From selling hamburgers to a reality show and now comes Paris, the songstress debuting her album on ads on YouTube. According to an article in today's AdAge, YouTube is creating two advertising channels: one for marketers and one for their constituency to vote on the ads and to upload them onto their own content. AdAge says this is marketing jujitsu while YouTube calls it participatory video ads...."Consumers are increasingly programming their own entertainment and content experiences," said Chad Hurley, CEO and co-founder of YouTube. "Our vision is to build a new advertising platform that both the community and advertisers will embrace."
It's yet another channel for marketers to consider in the FragmentSphere, which Warner Bros, Weinstein Co. and Fox are partaking. In this day and age, you need to look at the channels. Or as one of the many articles I read on a daily basis pointed a few weeks ago, marketers have to become "media agnostics" and go where the customers are.
As the father of a college student, and a college professor, the cost of textbooks is a serious concern. That's why I've used a popular business book (Harry Beckwith'sSelling The Invisible) as my text since it's only about $20 and a powerful read more substantive than many books I've reviewed. So, a unique concept by Campus Media Group caught my eye: the publisher lets marketers subsidize the cost through advertisement when the students log into the book. If it saves money and helps advertisers position themselves with that fabled demo then I'm all for it. I recall that my son's last semester book cost was over $1,000. Read more here.
And as if there wasn't enough marketing being done to you when you go to the grocery store, Envision Marketing Group is not letting any uncluttered, open space stay that way for long through it's conveyor belt marketing. Being tried in several Kroger stores in the Southeast, it's bound to be coming to your local supermarket soon. My question is: what happens when the conveyor is full of items? Read more here.
The August 6 issue of AdAge had a brief article about Pat Fallon, the CEO of Fallon Worldwide, regarding his new book, co-written with Fred Senn, "Juicing the Orange: How to Turn Creativity into a Powerful Business Advantage." As Mr. Fallon is quoted in the article, and what we've witnessed at REVShare: "Creative," he said, "is now in media. We're living in a kind of Wild West, in terms of media. We can invent our own delivery systems!" Fallon goes on to express that, "The future of advertising is to become experts on how media is consumed, and by whom."
The reviewer of the book, Randall Rothenberg, feels the book is full of important insights from a respected industry leader, many based on failure such as Fallon losing accounts it throught were sacrosanct. The gist is that creative, winning awards, etc. is old school: "Unless all the people in and around a company can own the strategy, have it expressed in a way they can embrace, it won't work," Mr. Fallon concluded, quite counterintuitively for an agency leader whose rep was built on awareness and awards. "Today, we start from the inside out."
Ah, the good old days! No media fragmentation, radio was a bit player, television ruled the world, everyone wanted to reach the masses and creative ruled (with the awards to prove it.) But that's no longer the case as Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP Group, aptly states: "There are major changes [happening in our industry], and we don't understand the speed and scale at which they're taking place."
Staying ahead of the curve requires a nimble and open mindset, moving away from the traditional and infusing the process with a new creative eye. That's why a white paper just issued by Winterberry Group: The State of the Agency: Market Transformation & the New Client Dynamic is important reading. The challenges of today's marketing universe demands more dialogue like this white paper.
Owning the conversation in your marketplace, as the Cluetrain Manifesto professes, is not as simple anymore as it once was when rabbit ears brought us ABC, NBC and CBS. The impact of television has diminished and any channel to reach a pertinent audience with relevant content is what it's all about. Just think about the growth of public relations, direct response, email, etc. which give marketers the ability to reach out in unusual venues and where the customers hang out. As one senior marketer quoted in the Winterberry study said so well: "As a marketer, you want to do what works, whether that's a commercial on network TV or having chimpanzees pass out flyers on the corner."
Think of Hamburger Helper when you see how big brands are extending their reach, sometimes way into the future. This morning's article from MediaBuyerPlanner shows that licensing products can be sweet, indeed. GM recently put 42 million Hummer toy cars in Happy Meals and BMW---a leader in creative and innovative ways to reach prospective customers---now has a BMW bicycle, while Dodge Charger is into personal computers.
The lesso is that this is another way to make money...and shows how creative you have to be if you're going to cut through the clutter. Dodge made $450 million in retail sales of its branded items last year alone. Convergence is all around us and any port in the media fragmentation storm is welcome.
Trying to get the feel of a show is hard to do with commercials so the folks who bring us Weeds, have done one better: they placed a scent strip in the August 24th issue of Rolling Stone that is supposed to smell like, well, like "weed."
The article in the August 9th AdAge says it all: "There was a lot of back and forth about the scent," said George DeBolt, VP-media, Showtime. "We wanted to have the scent be as close as possible to marijuana. It's the buzz factor, if you will." And as part of the campaign, Weeds Munchie Mobiles will be at several concerts in six cities handing swag....and, of course, brownies. Ah, the length marketers will go to get a buzz! But when you think about it, cleverness and knowing your audience is what this promo is all about.
Foster's is shifting its $5 million advertising totally to the Internet, featuring videos, etc. as they try to grab those young-adult males.
According to the c/net article of August 3: " 'The company has bought ads on Heavy, a site popular with young adult males, according to a Heavy representative. The ad campaign launches Aug. 16, when Heavy debuts a program called "Massive Mating Game." Foster's will also create humorous video commercials that it will post on other sites, according to a story in Thursday's edition of The Wall Street Journal. Gary Stein, director of strategy for Ammo Marketing, said that while the move appears to be a dramatic course change for a beer that built a name in the United States through television commercials, it's a relatively low risk investment. "
Switching totally to the Internet is definitely a niche approach for marketing beer and shows how important the web has become, but isn't that putting all your eggs in one basket?
Greyhound buses, for anyone who hasn't had pleasure of taking the bus, are now an advertising venue. Companies can now advertise on bus tickets and ticket jackets. There are also reply cards for direct response. With two million passengers per month, it's clear there are a lot of potential eyeballs for any advertising message. Advertising is handled by AdverTickets, which are the folks that also put ads on hotel "keys", etc. As one who fondly recalls being a skinny GI in the 60s, the bus was a favorite mode of transportation when I went on leave...it was cheap, went to a zillion small towns and definitely was an adventure. Advertising is everywhere with no space seemingly unused...it points out the dilemma marketers face, which is how to break through the clutter without adding more.
Google has just announced a $900 million dollar deal to provide search and ad delivery for MySpace. Along with the AOL deal and the MTV Ad-supported online video deal Google definitely rules....what's equally significant is that with dMarc in the Google family and their push into traditional media such as print, television cannot be far behind. Google is no longer simply a technology or search (with 60% of all searches) company, it's a techonolgy, search and media company of the first order.
AdAge reports that Google has hired Eileen Naughton to head the company's New York ad sales office. Ms. Naughton has strong experience with Madison Avenue, a halllowed place where Google wants to make friends as it expands its wings into traditional media. "We are pleased to confirm that Eileen Naughton will be joining Google as the head of Google's advertising sales for the New York office," a Google spokesman said in statement. "We look forward to bringing Eileen's vast traditional and online media experience to Google."
The online television trading system is finally on its way to fruition, as announced today in AdAge. The eBay mediamarketplace is set to come online in early 2007 and has set up a website to get the early adopters on board: www.admarketplace.com. Yet another story in the FragmentSphere. While not everyone is enthralled with this development, it shows how the digital age is impacting television.
The question is, will this work? It's one of those things where you don't know until you try it since buying media will probably not become as easy as perusing a menu and pushing the send button on your keyboard. But still it shows that the way media is curently bought and managed is in a state of flux.
What's significant is the many large media agencies such as Zenith Media, PHD and Carat have signed on. The brands pushing this initiative are Wal-Mart, H-P, Microsoft, Lexus and others. The clarion call has been sent to marketers according to Ann Bybee, corporate manager of advertising, brand and product strategy at Lexus: ""This is a formal call to encourage all advertisers to participate in the online exchange," said Ms. Bybee, adding, "This area hasn't seen change in 20 to 30 years." Ms. Bybee said the online trading system was not intended to replace the upfront, but it could be useful in replacing scatter buys."
As discussed on this blog from CTAM, MTV is quickly marshaling its forces to capture marketshare, especially the favored demos that will produce long and fruitful relationships. Sound thinking as today's Wall Street Journal announced:
"MtvU, a division of Viacom Inc.'s MTV Networks, on Wednesday said it has agreed to acquire Y2M: Youth Media & Marketing Networks, the parent of College Publisher. Financial terms weren't disclosed. College Publisher is an interactive network of online college newspapers that reaches more than 5 million college students through 450 campus papers. MtvU is MTV's 24-hour college network."
That's a rich audience and one which makes great sense so that as these students spread out after college, they're already linked in to MTV products, although they probably were anyway. The ability to target effectively---and to reenforce the brand---to an audience already predisposed to you is good strategy.
Trying to push cars is a lot harder these days what with interest rates climbing, gas prices through the roof and a long term malaise in the industry. So, what's a CEO to do? Become a television star, but somehow Chrysler's Dr. Z is not cutting it, even after spending $225 million on ads to create an avalanche of sales. And, apparently, going to the well too often with employee discounts just doesn't seem to have much traction either. It seems like Dr. Z is everywhere when we watch television, but the masses are unmoved.
I think the problem with the commercials are four-fold: 1. There are too many messages for anyone to relate to; 2. There are too many different products and trying to message to all the demographics in one fell swoop dilutes the impact; 3. People are preoccupied with other concerns and besides it's vacation time; 4. Dr. Z is not Lee Iaccoca and he simply doesn't translate into a warm, grandfatherly person you'd buy a car from.
I bring up Dr. Z's problems because simply blanketing the world with commercials is not necessarily the panacea for all your ills. What are you saying and how are you saying? Is your marketing mix adequate to snag everyone who might be interested in buying your product? And there's that "engagement" word again: how are you bringing people into the fold when they're so used to being entertained and pandered to...plus the fact that the consumer is now in control and wants to be talked to on their terms. What uniqueness do you offer for the time the customer might give to consider your product? Maybe the price point is not as important to care buyers as the perception that this is something uniquely for them. There's not a whole lot of buzz about Chrysler's products---other than the campaign is not working--and that's the problem.
Reaching out to coveted demographic groups is becoming a craft in its own right and one that even advertisers are directing. Now comes Toyota with a $10 million production of a comedy series for mobile phones, which will feature the 2007 Camry.
AdWeek's article this morning explains that, "The series is targeted at young urban influencers that the carmaker hopes will pass along the mobile episodes to a wider audience. The Camry is displayed prominently in the series, which even highlights some of the car's new features. But Brad Gillingham, CEO of Fun Little Movies, said the messaging is subtle and the focus is on entertaining." This series is thought to be one of the first original programs specifically made for video-enabled phones....and the first by a major brand advertiser. As the media fragments, super niching is indeed having its day.
Two interesting engagement-related articles today. Reuters reports that TimeWarner has announced CNN has launched a new site called CNNExchange for the citizen journalists in our midst to post video, pictures, commentaries, etc. What's significant is two-fold: 1. The further engagement of common folks armed with camera, camcorders, and the like to be involved in news making and reporting shows the ongoing fragmentation of media and how "news" is increasingly being aggregated and disseminated; 2. As we've reported on this blog, it's all about content...there's not enough of it so the masses are encouraged to create their own.
And not to forget the Boomers, there is now a social networking site, Eons.com, that engages Boomers to stay active and reach out and touch someone. Put together by Jeff Taylor, the founder of Monster.com, the 77 million of us a bit long in the tooth have a place to socialize and learn how to build brain strength, calculate our potential longevity, etc. and, gasp, access the nationwide database of obituaries dating back to the 1930s.
We met the other day with a marketer representing a unique website concept that made so much sense it knocked us off our feet....he left us with the statement "Engagement is Action." Since "engagement" is the marketing word du jour, it seems that what marketers and advertisers should be focusing on is not simply measuring eyeballs, or branding value, or how many people visited a website, but what type of positive action happened and how did this flow to the bottom line. After all making the P&L lean more towards profits is what it's all about....and for that to happen requires a cha ching action on the part of the customer.
We marketers love to put a fancy name to something to make it seem more important and mysterious than what it is. In PR it's called smoke and mirrors. But let's look at engagement as something we should have been doing all along. The Internet has put the customer even more in charge and demanding respect. If you're not "engaging" them in a meaningful fashion, you can bet you won't seeing them for long.
I bring this up because what we do at REVShare is engagement in the truest sense: We make the phones ring and the websites hum with leads. Advertisers are demanding this accountability in every way from their marketing efforts, which is why so many have gravitated to the Internet. The CMO of Verizon Wireless, John Stratton, said it best in February at a Madison and Vine Conference in LA: "Your clients are absolutely in trouble and they are looking for you to save them...What you've been selling for the last 50 years no longer works."
So, let's not just talk about "engagement" at conferences and in the trades and simply do something about it. This is about changing the marketing mindset through relevance and the keen understanding of the behaviors of people who give us their time to view what we offer them. Mix some creativity and persistence and engagement indeed becomes action.
This was REVShare's first CTAM summit and Boston was a great setting full of friendly people---from the cabbies to the locals willing to give us directions and to talk up the Red Sox. Here's what we walked away with:
The media continues to fragment and everyone is looking for answers on how to reach customers (Read my previous post on "geobranding".)
It's all about content....there's not enough of it. (Think of Marvel Comics now producing their own films based on their comic characters.)
It's all about "super niching"...so that each demo has a place to go for what interests them. It's truly about choice.
Like Paul Revere said, "HD is coming. HD is coming. HD is coming."
Innovation and forward thinking is critical to meet the new challenges....if you're comfortable with where you are, think again. But don't panic, think smart and be the leader in your space.
Finally, on our cab ride back to Logan Airport our cabbie was a man who had been homeless and was back on his feet. He waxed philosophical as we observed the traffic mess from the Big Dig. We were captivated by his eloquence and his sense of place. He talked about the need for more "social cooperation" which he felt the Big Dig fiasco had instilled in his fellow Bostonians, and how people were more patient now that they realized that impatience in traffic and in their lives was not going to get them where they're going any faster. "Courtesy begets courtesy," he said. "And that's a good thing." We all thought that framed the CTAM Summit quite well.
In a world where everyone has a "super niche" they belong to, now comes another called geocacher. Geocachers are affluent, tech savvy devotees of a hobby who use global positioning to hide or find caches that may contain a logbook or other booty. Why is this significant? Because Jeep and tourism bureaus have done a great job of using this for "geobranding"---yet another term for our marketing lexicon. This is not about kids knocking on your door looking for a bobby pin, but the ultimate adult pursuit to go where no man or woman has gone before.
In a fragmented media universe, marketers are going to the end limits, quite literally, to generate buzz for their products. It's creative, it works and it's cost-effective.
Interesting article this morning from AdAge.com regarding the success of ABC's streaming video experiment earlier this year. Seems that the research showed users had an 87% recall of the advertisers vs. an average recall of 24% for commercials on television. For those who are into "Lost" and "Commander in Chief" (Since cancelled) this is good news as the network said video streaming will become a permanent feature on its website in October. That's just phenomenal recall for advertising.
We are back from the CTAM Summit and sifting through the brochures, swag and impressions. I blogged quite a bit about Marc Cuban and wanted to share this picture of him at the REVShare booth with the Network Team. When he approached the booth, he told us he remembered us from several months ago when one of the team contacted HDNet. That's impressive. And---more importantly--that he understood CPA. He especially agrees with our mission of bringing ad dollars back to television.
What was unique about the few minutes he spent with us was his down to earth manner. When I asked to take the picture, he said, "Yes, let's do it in front of your booth." He definitely made our day with his graciousness and consideration...goes to show you that Marc became a billionaire entrepeneur by understanding what we need more of in business: a civility that respects individual integrity.
A fantastic presentation this morning by June Blocklin, vice chairman of Young & Rubicam Brands, with the above title. Her thesis is best reflected with this quote: "When you're doing really well, ask yourself are you comfortable? Comfortable should be an uncomfortable place to be." All to point out that the media landscape is fragmented and changing, and that Cable should be in the forefront. According to June, iMoore's Law states technology doubles every 18 months, but humans don't change that fast...and that's the problem. We folks find it hard to adapt. Another key point on that vein is that too often technology is built for the producers of the technology but not for the consumers.
June is bullish on television and Cable because she sees "The power of television is to present the human drama." Yet, when it comes to advertising 61% feel advertising is out of control. The masses simply feel there is little relevant to their life in the advertising they see. And that's why viewers spend so much money to avoid advertising. Her answer to this? Targeting. Or super niching, as Judith McGrath emphasized yesterday.
June's view is that you don't worrry about competition, you need to worry about building your brand so you don't have to worry about the competition. Stick to what makes you unique and tell the story. Advertising, she states, is "the window of the soul of the brand." Nicely put. While she acknowledges that the Telcos and MSN, Yahoo and Google are direct competitors to Cable, she feels that the reason why the cable companies should not feel comfortable is because, in spite of the growth, there are four things that get in the way of getting out of your comfort zone and becoming the marketplace leader:
The enemies are in your own organization. It's called FEAR. If you're preoccupied with the competition, you're already in trouble. Become the competition and the benchmark.
Excessive confidence. Just because you've got the killer app or you're tops in your market, don't let that get to your head because it doesn't mean you're going to succeed.
Force of habit. We all know about the refrain, "We've always done it that way."
Service brands tend to be weak.Why? Because the promise of excellent service as a differentiating strategy often cannot be met. In her mind, it's bound to fail so service brands rely on pricing, a bad place to go to.
So, what does she offer as a solution from her many years of branding? Four counterpoints:
Look for ways to be tangible. You can apply the word relevance here as well as targeting the right demo. When you offer a tangible service, you begin to promote envy from the others in your marketplace.
Promote envy. By being more tangible and more in tune with your customers vs. what you think your customers want, you begin to make the others envious. And just as soon as they copy you---a flattery of sorts---you reinvent and become more tangible. In other words, you get out of your comfort zone yet again.
Make your promise simple. June feels complexity is the very reason people don't buy certain products or services. Her example had to do with how many different buttons there are now on a cell phone. Try buying one that's just a phone and it can't be done.
Express yourself simply. Don't complicate the process with too much information, tell your brand story simply and eloquently. Life is complicated enough so make it easy to grasp what you're touting.
In her final statement, June reemphasized that leaders have to be careful of emotional reaction in the face of competition and change. "Don't panic," she stated, "Or you lose your power." Her presentation was well orchestrated and she is a dynamite speaker. Lots of food for thought in her words. Back to the show.
Last night's lightning show was a spectacular metaphor for the ending of CTAM. From the Disney party, a class act according to my colleagues, to the cooling air and wonderful rain, the summit is winding down to its final hours. The REVShare team is out there making contacts and sharing our story. This show has reminded us that it's all about content...and that includes a company's story. The value of conferences, summits, whatever is that people often connect face to face for the first time. It's a way for the human touch to enter the relationship and in that sense, this show has been a success.
Barry Schwartz, the author of Paradox of Choice and a professor at Swarthmore, spoke to the Summit this afternoon about his book of the same name and his observations about how too much choice impacts decision making. Schwartz's thesis is that we now have so many decisions to make that we often don't make them well, if at all. What does too much choice mean to consumers? He posited that it increases paralysis so no decisions are made and it negatively impacts the quality of the decisions and the satisfaction. While this was not earth shattering, I think it's worthy of pondering.
Although Schwartz did not equate that well to our industry, you have to wonder how we can make the proliferation of television channels work. What we've consistently heard at this event is that niches are the reality as more and more people gravitate to social networking sites, such as MySpace. As I said in an earlier posting, what's happening in the media is calling for marketers to be even more creative in their approach to advertising. Think about it when you take up the remote, the centerpiece of most households, and you surf through the gazillions channels, watching one show and surfing during the commercials and perhaps seduced to watch something else. It's no wonder that the marketing mix now includes promotions and events and other tactics so that all the bases are covered.
While Schwartz is an eloquent speaker, I think he appealed to the consumer side of everyone in the audience, but for the industry side, there wasn't a whole lot of meat to his message. Yes, we can agree that our lives are complicated and we have a lot more decisions we have to make while we multi-task but I agree with a colleague who said that the industry is going to keep evolving more channels for even the stamp collector or the person who is interested in Area 51 and all points in between. It's that kind of a world.
Shawn Gold, the SVP at MySpace, spoke to the Summit this morning and shared their success with us. To say this is a phenomenal success is an understatement: they add 2,000,000 new users each week. By the end of this month, they'll have 100 million users. And at the end of this year, they'll have more users than there are television sets in the entire US!
Shawn attributes this success due to the fact that their main demographic group, 15-25, as being so totally wired and digitized that this is the standard of communication. The uniqueness of MySpace is that nearly everything on there is user-generated. And the community rules in terms of approval of whatever you put on there. If the users don't care for what you've got on there, forget it. It's all about engagement at the grass roots level. To Shawn, it's the ultimate in personal branding; the site provides an opportunity for teens to break out into the world and get an identity. It breaks down social barriers. Another interesting note is that the 35+ age group is the fastest rising membership level. We have all heard how MySpace beats Yahoo as the most visited site, but what's amazing is the fact that 19% of all video downloads on the Internet happen on MySpace.
The true value for advertisers and marketers is the immense volume of data they have aggregated from the users themselves who voluntarily give up the info on their bios. And now there are all sorts of channels such as the Comedy Channel of MySpace with 10,000 comedians who share their performance online. There are 40,000 film makers, 2 million musicians and bands, and the list goes on.
So, what does this mean for advertisers? Creativity and content rule. Advertisers such as Disney are integrating campaigns on the site with interactivity. And that seems to be the way to reach this coveted demo. Games, incentives, connectivity between "friends", etc. help the viral marketing process along. Another amazing stat is that 40% of all the U2 songs downloaded on the Internet are through MySpace.
If this seems to be a promotion for the site, it is in a sense since it is slaying the world with its success. Advertisers who begin to understand how the site works and how to communicate with relevance and innovation are going to win. Yet another kernel in the FragmentSphere! From High Definition fast on our heels to social networking, how we reach people and entice them, educate them and connect with them is a continuous challenge. Only the nimble and the visionary need apply.
Judith McGrath, President of MTV Networks, addressed the Summit this morning and basically talked about what is happening in the ClutterSphere: Mainly that consumers are hunted, snared and trapped. Why? Too much choice and everyone has a stake in bringing as many people to their networks and programs as possible. So, how do we do that? Well, it seems we give them even more choice. To Judith's way of thinking, being everywhere at once magnifies the brand. And with 120 channels, MTV has very much become research-oriented with over 200 researchers digging into the psyche of viewers so that "super niching" is occuring. A very smart move on their part.
But here's the caveat. We need more relevant content...content is the buzz word here. As I stated yesterday, there's not enough of it so more and more networks are creating their own. Remember when HBO started and one of the key features was, original content, commercial-free and good to go. And they said it wouldn't last!
What's equally interesting is the continuous talk about community. We're more wired than ever, yet we have to go out into the digital ethereal to get community, to connect with like minded folks. Seems somewhat strange in many ways that the only way we can connect is through the digital landscape. What was incredible was the stat that 57% of teens create content for the web each day. Don't they have homework to do? It's so ingrained in their lives that multi-tasking is a reality they accept and actually savor. Kids 8-11 are increasingly getting cell phones and connecting with each other. It's increased 50% in the past year. Alarming. Who are they calling? I can tell you that my 9 year-old is not anywhere close to getting a cell phone. Scary world, but one we need to face and manage.
The challenge for advertisers seems clear: How do we access all those platforms, all those so-called super-niches? That's why advertisers are hedging their bets and going to the web. That's why creative agencies that promote in unusual ways are becoming more successful. That's why Nissan and Ford and others are developing multi-level platform reach into those audiences. The main focus is engagement. And that's the challenge advertisers face. Think about how to reach with a relevant message. Clearly relevance is still a factor, but now it's even more fragmented.
What we've always said at REVShare is that it's about the network and everyone at CTAM seems to agree. We are the only advertising network here and when we share our story of CPA advertising and how the REVShare network works, folks are intrigued. Many said, "Wow, it makes sense."
What we're also hearing is that content is king and there's not enough of it. We saw a promo for HDNet, Mark Cuban's pride and joy, and for VOOM another new High Definition network with multiple channels. It's very clear that there are movers and shakers in the industry here, people who are taking us in new directions. Cuban is betting everything on HD and when he speaks, he can make a believer out of you. He talked about how when you do the news in HD---such as Dan Rather will be doing for him now that he's been banished from CBS---you can actually feel the news so that when you hear a cannon go off in the background, well, you really hear it...and feel it. Just asTom Peters, the marketing guru, who speaks of creating WOW experiences for customers, Cuban and others say that once you experience HD, you can never go back to regular analog. The HD focus in today's agenda was the kicker of the day.
What is interesting about HD television, according to the experts, is that it is more communal since now that flat screen televisions are becoming more commonplace (and cost has come down significantly), people plan their houses around the television because it has become an accent piece to the decor of the home. And because the experience of HDTV is so WOW, everyone in the family wants to be involved in the purchase and in watching it.
Of course being in a cable industry show, everyone feels that television is still a favorite activity. When asked about the drift towards the small screen such as computers, cell phones and the like, the panel experts gave the audience this context: Small screens are to communicate and basically a more alone activity, but the big screen still rules. From an advertising point of view, HDTV could be an opportunity to create advertising that resonates more clearly and creatively so that ads themselves become the WOW experience High Definition delivers.
The message today was don't give up hope that the new media is going to end television as we know it. There are folks who are doing something about it and television is alive and well even though it has to adapt.
The REVShare team went to a panel discussion with some top names in the industry, like Mark Cuban (Mark visited our booth, but that's another blog) who spoke about the revolution in the High Definition space. Here's the deal: On February 2009, all our televisions turn into a pumpkin, like Cinderella's coach, because that's when the analog broadcasting that served us all these years is no more. It's the law. The problem is that so few people know about it---although the sale of HD and HD Ready is apparently climbing. The overall message to this cable audience is that the cable industry needs to be leading the charge. Yes, it's disruptive technology, but no, it's not going to go away so better to be prepared early than later. As Mark Cuban aptly stated, It's not a question of if, it's a matter of when."
And the next important point was that this is really not a technology story, even though it's a technological advancement, it's about content and experience. Again, Mark Cuban spoke up and said "content matters more than the hardware." A point everyone seemed to agree about.
I'll share more on this panel in the next blog. I apologize for being late with our first missive....due to technical difficulties.
It's a hot, steamy day at CTAM but the spirit of the REVShare Team is full of vigor and anticipation. We will be commenting on how things are going all day as well as upload pictures for everyone to join us.
When Google bought dMarc Broadcasting, the traditional media world was rocked. And when Google started selling magazine and newspaper ads, the next step was taken---although that experiment has been less than stellar. So now comes word that Google wants to target folks listening to their car radio with GPS-personalized ads. Here's how it's described by Donna Bogatin on her ZDNet blog, Digital Micro-Markets:
"Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, believes that when he is listening to the radio in his car, radio ads should personally address him about his needs. For example, while driving past a clothing store, a radio ad should remind Eric that he needs a pair of pants and instruct him to turn left at the upcoming clothing store.
Schmidt shared his vision for GPS location-based delivery of highly targeted and personalized advertising via in-car radios at a luncheon with a group of publishing executives in New York City yesterday. While Schmidt predicted a realization of his vision within the next one to two years, he did not share his vision for how the Google owned dMarc Broadcasting, a "digital solutions provider for the radio broadcast industry," would enable such digital ad delivery via car radios. Google acquired dMarc in January to bring "radio advertising to Google AdWords advertisers."
Mr. Schmidt anticipates this to be available within two years. As a marketer, that will be indeed the most personal and targeted marketing. In this digitized world, anything is possible.
Is the sky falling or are the planets still in their orbits? It all depends on your point of view. Consider what Dave Morgan, CEO of Tacoda, wrote in Ad Age on Monday:
"Marketers are shifting away from advertising, which favors media, to direct marketing and promotion, which do not. While this has been happening for decades, the digital revolution has helped accelerate the shift. This means less advertising in the future and less money for media -- all media. That's a reality.
All media are going digital. The digital revolution is not just impacting the web; it's impacting television, radio, newspapers, magazines and outdoor. They're all becoming digital in part and will almost certainly be fully digital within a decade. This will fundamentally change how they operate. Is a digital magazine still a paper magazine? Or is it a website or an e-mailed copy? Definitions and traditional 'siloed' differentiations we use today, such as magazine or newspaper or television or direct mail, will become meaningless to most consumers. To them, it will just be news or information or entertainment or games or great offers. Most folks in traditional media are not prepared for this -- and they are powerless to stop it."
Mr. Morgan contends that the "Me"dia is what it's all about. It's about a consumer-centric, "all about me" culture that is taking the world by storm, especially advertising. And he does have a point when you consider that MySpace was touted today to be the most downloaded site, bigger than even Google and the others. Also consider that some brands are even encouraging consumers to write their commercials for them. Yes, it's an "engagement" world alright.
But in my mind, the bigger question is: Does this really spell the end of advertising as we know it or has it already arrived? Yes and no. Yes, there is a revolution in media and advertising and, no, it's not the end. We are seeing the rise of ingenious public relations, promotions, events, scripts written around products and everything from kite billboards to people tattooing their bodies with ads, but those can only be seen as complementary to regular advertising and marketing mix. Being enamored of the unusual advertising venues will soon lose their luster and become commonplace. You can only be unique and outrageous for so long before you become transparent and lose your luster to engage and the ability to motivate to love your brand. In our fast-paced culture it's bound to happen rapidly
Mr. Morgan, however, is correct when he says advertising agencies and marketers are going to have to change their mindsets in order to survive. I think many have or are beginning. I don't think people are going to want to watch all their favorite shows on the computer or on their cell phones or time shift every show they like. There will be a place for traditional advertising, including traditional media like television, it's just going to have to morph to the new realities. As disruptive as the digital age has become for advertisers and marketers, it only means that they'll have to be that much more creative in their approach to integrate all media into their advertising.
Breaking through to the consumer is a challenge in the ClutterSphere. That's why product placement has been in place for quite a while---think of Coke and Ford on American Idol and scripts written around products---but the Meow Mix folks have taken it to the next level with the Meow Mix House, a reality show for cats and those who love them. According to Chief Marketer, here's how it went down:
"Ten homeless felines from shelters across the United States were flown to New York, where they lived together in a custom-built house in midtown Manhattan from June 13 to June 23. The “cat-testants” competed in a series of tongue-in-cheek challenges, including a climb-a-thon and a purring contest, as they vied for a job as “feline vice president of research and development” at Meow Mix. In reality all the cats were winners—after being eliminated from the competition (hostTom Shilluedelivered the news by uttering the catchphrase, “You’re meotwa here!”), they were all adopted into permanent homes.
The Meow Mix House included numerous interactive elements to engage consumers, whether they were onsite, online, or ultimately watching on TV. The house, situated in a storefront on Madison Avenue, was open to the public, allowing fans to visit the cats in person and vote for their favorite cats in special ballot boxes set up inside the store. The house averaged 1,000 visitors a day over the 10-day period it was open.
We created a dedicated Website, www.meowmixhouse.com, where people could observe the cats 24 hours a day thanks to Webcams situated throughout the house. People could also go to the Website to read the cats’ bios and blogs, view a photo gallery, and vote for their “pick of the litter.” To date more than 115,000 consumers have voted online, and the Website has received more than 1 million hits. Edited highlights from the house are airing once a week in a series of 10 three-minute episodes on cable networkAnimal Planet, and each episode includes a call to action for viewers to vote for their favorite cat on the Meow Mix House Website."
It's a very clever promotion and obviously successful. And it goes to show how innovative marketers have to be with their advertising in order to get their point across. It also reflects that niche marketing is definitely where it's all happening---and that content, no matter how silly it may seem for some of us, is what people are seeking in our digital age. Kudos to Grand Central Marketing for a purrfect event.
In this digital age full of niches here comes another marketing opportunity: Bar code marketing is here. A little known Japanese firm, Design Barcode, has been pioneering this concept and recently won a Titanium Lion at Cannes for creativity. It's a very unique and creative approach. Making something as impersonal as a bar code is yet another example of branding at the lowest common denominator.
If there is any doubt that the media is not fragmented or that niche marketing is not alive and well....perish the thought. As reported in the latest issue of BusinessWeek, now comes Major League Gaming (MLG), a video gaming network set to launch in November through USA Network. There's already a World Series of Video Gaming that's been going strong for the past four years and founded by the William Morris Agency. And "DirecTV will air three tourneys via satellite in August and then launch it's own league in 2007 in partnership with Microsoft."
MLG currently stages "online competitions as well as seven tournaments a year, turning game plan into Web content and cell-phone shorts." Opportunities continue to abound in the FragmentSphere so marketers take note.
Adotas this morning reports that PayPerPost.com is introducing a Pay-Per-Post (PPP) model that they claim will rival PPC and CPM. The site went live on June 29th. Apparently, the advertisers create an "opportunity" for bloggers.
The PayPerPost.com site explains it this way: "Think of an Opportunity as a posting on a bulletin board that an advertiser has made. They are looking for people to write about Web sites, products and services in exchange for cash. Select the Opportunity that you are most interested in and review the requirements set forth by the advertiser.
Advertisers will post all sorts of Opportunities, from a simple "link back to this site" to product reviews with pictures. Each Opportunity will have different compensation based on the advertiser. It's up to you to pick the Opportunities that best suit you. If it doesn't feel right, if you don't own the product, or if you can't be honest we ask you to pass on the Opportunity."
The question I have is, what happens to the integrity of the blogger's opinions if they're touting products? Will the relationship change with the readership and will this have the effect that advertisers think it will? The jury is still out, but it definitely indicates that word-of-mouth advertising through blogs and podcasts is taking off...And marketers need to take note.
It's been in the air for several months now so it should be no surprise that the MediaDailyNews reports this morning on a task force being set up by advertisers wanting to set up an online eBay-style system to buy and sell media. Yet more evidence of media fragmentation.
The champion of this effort is Julie Roehm, Wal-Mart's vp of marketing communications. And it goes to the heart of the new age we're living in: Advertisers have been disenchanted and complaining for eons about their perceived lack of effectiveness of their media investments to get their messages across. As John Stratton, CMO of Verizon Wireless, said to the advertising agencies attending the Madison & Vine conference in February: "Your clients are absolutely in trouble and they are looking for you to save them...What you've been selling for the last 50 years no longer works."
The networks are obviously not happy about this and it brings up a good point. What if the media decides not to play as reported in this morning's article: "In May, the President-COO of NBC Universal's television operations, Randy Falco, was even more definitive in his opposition to the proposal. 'That's ridiculous,' he said. 'We'll never do that. That commoditizes your product.'" Maybe. Or maybe there's a silver lining to this cloud? Even though this siren call has been heard before, it keeps coming back. It's like when the patient keeps coming back to the doctor with the same complaint: Maybe it's not psychosomatic.
To our way of thinking it points to the 800 pound gorilla in the room: Advertisers are mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore. Like it or not, the bigger challenge is really about finding the opportunity to effectively morph to meet customer needs and remain viable. Will this be the lifeline advertisers and agencies are looking for? The jury is still out on this, but one thing is clear. It's not going away so let's be creative.
The Online Spin column from MediaPost this morning by Max Kalehoff, vice president of marketing for Nielsen BuzzMetrics, brings up an interesting point about agencies and the changing media landscape. The gist of what he says in "Why Advertising Agencies Don't Get R&D" is best summed up in his last statements:
"First, creative and account management view advertising and marketing as more of an art form--not something subject to R&D. As for media services, it has been a victim of lowering margins and head count, while ad spending has increased dramatically. Media services has become more of a commodity business, and therefore can't support R&D, as the cost won't be directly passed on to the client. While some of the big players do make small plays in R&D, these efforts are mostly hype. Mark emphasized that this is not a steadfast rule; there are a few exceptions.
Finally, I posed the same question to my colleague Pete Blackshaw, who helped lead the first interactive marketing department at Procter & Gamble. He underscored that the R&D absence in the agency model is partly the fault of the marketers they work for. The client's model of risk aversion and fear of exploring the unknown often passes right down to the agency. The bottom line is that clients need to put skin in the game and invest, along with their agencies.
With commoditization and risk aversion seemingly so prevalent, what is advertising to do? In these disruptive times in our media and marketing landscape, isn't R&D the ad industry's salvation? Better yet, isn't R&D necessary to avoid carnage?
Kalehoff's article is definitely food for thought. Have a great 4th of July Weekend. Vive l'Amerique.
Two interesting blogs have brought up some interesting points regarding Google's experiment with Cost-per-Action on their AdSense network. On B2BBlog the June 23rd posting by Dave J wonders if this is a good thing: "This sounds great, but there are questions that seem hard to resolve, especially for advertisers like me (which is maybe why Google is only 'testing' CPA).
The obvious technicality is that for a lot of smaller & B2B businesses, the most common 'action' coming from their website is a phone call. And these are the people who also are paying much more per-click in their current PPC campaigns. Which means they have a lot more at risk for click-fraud yet cannot rely on CPA to help due to the untraceable phone call.
The other problem is simply numbers. AdSense needs thousands of impressions just to create PPC activity worth mentioning. And of those clicks, only another 1-2% are going to convert. And because that conversion for small or B2B businesses is not a sale, we aren't going to want to pay a high bounty for 'just a lead' (unless quality can be determined)." Dave further feels that CPA will not gain a foothold in the B2B arena.
Another blogger, Russell of the InfoCommerce Group Inc. Blog, wonders, "Does CPA Add Up To Trouble?": "This new CPA model addresses both these issues. To get paid, the user will not only have to click-through, but take a specific next step such as registering, requesting more information or making a purchase, all in the same user session. It's virtually fraud-proof, but the message it sends to advertisers is something of a two-edged sword....The first is that clicks alone don't count....The second message is that it is now okay to pay only when something concrete happens."
Russell's conclusion is worthy of review: "If CPA takes off with advertisers, and I think it will, we have to watch it closely. If it remains limited to publishers getting paid (hopefully a lot) for generating hard sales leads, that's one thing, and a number of us could do quite well in this environment. If it morphs (as I predict it will) to advertisers demanding to pay only when they make a sale, we as an industry have to draw the line. The purpose of advertising is to stimulate interest, not guarantee profits."
To Dave J and Russell, CPA is alive and thriving in the television space, as REVShare has been proving for years. To Dave J's concerns about untraceable phone calls, REVShare's clients know exactly the source of each call and pay us accordingly. It's not that hard. To Russell's final words that advertising is not there to guarantee profits, he should consider the fact that advertisers are tired of the lack of accountability of what they get for their ad dollars, whether on the web or television. If advertising doesn't guarantee profits, then why do it? Because it works on many levels, including profitability. The issue is not about guaranteeing profits---no one can do that and that statement misses the point---it's to make advertising more accountable...and ultimately make a sale and, hopefully, a profit. Folks, CPA is here to stay and advertisers are flocking to it in television, and Google's "experiment" is going to pan out on the Internet as well. It's called Cost-per-Action, not Guarantee-per-Action.
Like Rodney Dangerfield used to say, "I don't get no respect." I bring this up because the news this past week is that Google has started testing Cost-per-Action(CPA) ads for its AdSense network. Looks like everyone is jumping on the CPA bandwagon - even Google. We've been doing CPA long before Google was even a gleam in its founders' eyes. The June 23rd MediaPost article states that Google is hedging its bets by having CPA and CPC...in a very real sense going back to its direct marketing soul after veering less successfully into the CPM world of print and radio. If Google wants to do the same for television and get the respect in this space, well, we're here! We've been earning our advertisers and our media network partners' respect every day for 17 years.
Push your shopping cart over to ReacTV starting in August and load up on available television inventory until your rating point cart is full. And the best part are the every day low prices of a $25 CPM flat rate with a 100% guaranteed audience and category exclusivity in each advertising pod.
This is probably the beginning of what advertisers have wanted for a long time: an open market source for television inventory that's not shrouded in mystery, hyperbole and other rituals. Read all about it at MediaPost today.
