The Eyes on Cyber Life
By now, web and
mobile users know there’s no escaping advertising. With advertising comes consumer/market
research to ensure the right message gets to the desired customer. There is a sea of online market researchers
studying the blogs, tweets, clicks, and texts of online users.
Some agencies are
familiar faces to media consumers, while others, consumers will be surprised
that they are in the game. Take
Neilson.com--the agency known for making an average household a “Neilsen
Family” by installing a monitoring box to the television—is still keeping a
pulse on consumer behavior—now in cyber space.
Neilsen boasts
having “approximately 10 million consumers in 100 countries participating in
their research”. Neilsen.com website
claims the organization “studies the use of 181 million blogs, social networks,
and other media”. That other media
includes brick and mortar retail, TV, mobile, and web. The organization’s ace card is NeuroFocus™. It is a worn device that “measures brainwave
activity and eye tracking”, so their clients know what wording, colors, and
designs stimulate particular brain regions and result in making purchases.
Experian, one of
the three largest credit reporting bureaus, leveraged its global store of
consumer and business information to offer marketing services or “consumer
insights” to their clients. These
insights are accessed through Hitwise™ Hitwise Mobile™, Hitwise Audience Viewsm,
Simmons LOCAL sm and Simmons National Consumer Studiessm.. All three Hitwise branded services are fueled
on “the daily activity of 10 million consumers located in over 50 countries
across six continents on one million websites.”
Talk about statistical excess.
United Sample or
uSamp was an online research firm from its inception. The founders Gregg Lavin and Matt Dusig tag
uSamp “The Answer Network” specializing in online market research panels. The firm has 12 million survey respondents
residing in such countries as Egypt, Kenya, Trinidad, Jamaica, Mexico, and of
course, the United States. The panelists
give online and mobile feedback.
Since the global
panel is their gold, recruiting has high standards. The company recruits through “social media,
their global partners, and website publishers”.
uSamp prides itself in locating “the hard-to-find respondent” and
achieving “panel purity”. What is panel
purity? That is ensuring there are no
duplications in email addresses and mobile numbers nor people maintaining
multiple identities. Imagine! The things
people do to earn pre-loaded debit cards, sales discounts, and merchandise
samples.
Labels: advertising, marketing, media monitoring, social media, social networking
Another Six Reasons for Lackluster Fundraising Results
Will you reach your funding goal in 2013? It's a matter of your creativity, openness, and persistence.
Be creative about how you describe your program. Think of the different
benefits or issues surrounding it and then write about each one on different occasions
Accept awards and declinations
evenly. Don't make a the declination letter the final word. Return to
the prospect to get specific reasons for the decision. If you make the necessary changes, do so and resend at the next scheduled submission period. Keep at the job
of fundraising. Don't let the effort drop off.
More Reasons for Lackluster Fundraising Results:
- Fear of rejection.
Does asking for something and not getting it have you feel you're not
good enough? Perish the thought. Funders have deadlines, budgets, and
changes in funding priorities without giving the public advance notice. Motivate yourself to move past the fear by giving a high-five to yourself or someone else in the organization or quietly thank yourself for submitting the proposal or making the call.
- No follow through on requests.
Don't let money slip through your fingers because you didn't submit the
requested additional information or didn't schedule the visit. Write it on your wall calendar and input in your smartphone.
- Lack of stamina to do repeat requests.
The sources of stamina in this work are confidence and optimism. See #1 and
put on the calendar or funding software the date of the next deadline
for that prospect. Low stamina may also be a nutritional issue. Reduce the sugar, dairy, caffeine, and wheat; Increase the fruits, vegetables, water and sunlight.
- There's only one message-and that's limited. Think like a marketer and study the facets of your program; then describe each facet in many ways.
- Over reliance on few sources-even Sugar Daddies get tired of their sweet things. In short, diversifying your funding base is crucial. Make it a practice to uncover the supporters of programs similar to yours. Then do prospect research to learn whether whether that supporter's funding guidelines cover your project.
- You don't make it easy to give.
Some people write checks; others want to use PayPal, a credit card, or
send a text that get's charged to the telephone. Explore the payment
options and learn the demographic most likely to use each one.
Labels: advertising, brand recognition, capital formation, donations, ego, fundraising, nonprofit
Getting the Story on Brooklyn's Ad High School
Brooklyn is the home to the nation's first public high school for advertising. If there's another one preceeding it, please tell me. It's name is
High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media and it will open September 2008 within
Canarsie High School. I'm pleased to be third to break the story in NYC. The first publisher of the story is the NY Daily News. I had a writing embargo until after Feb. 8 when Advertising Age would publish it. This news is fantastic. The people with whom I connected are equally fantastic.
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz is on a drive to have Brooklyn realize being "the 4th largest city in the US," although it is a borough of NYC. Markowitz knows a school like this will do so much for Brooklyn's reputation and real power. Imagine, your borough grooms the next advertising executives and managing staff. It's quite possible that in the future Brooklyn and Manhattan will be America's centers of advertising and media genius. College students may run to Brooklyn for that "great copy or art job."
Advertising Week, Inc executive director
Matt Scheckner tried to pass himself off as an average Joe dropping some lines to me but, humility to the side, top ad people like
Ron Berger,
Michael Roth,
Byron Lewis and
Rosemarie Ryan wouldn't have just any Joe working their show. Rather, someone who serves as Yahoo's marketing director and previously headed American Association of Advertising Agencies and ADWEEK magazine would admirably run Advertising Week.
As a reporter getting quotes, one should remain objective but, after the second quote, "The kids will get dipped into the advertising and media sauce via a combination of..." I commended him on his great sound bites. Don't get me wrong; it was tough going getting a telephone interview with him. Possibly the embargo was being extended--it's all in the game of news reporting.
This high school is shot in the arm for Brooklyn. It's a feather in Markowitz's cap.
Labels: advertising, media training, society, technology
FOT: Future of Television
Digital Media Wire, New York University and Consumer Electronics Association co-hosted
Future of Television NYC conference at
Museum of Jewish Heritage, November 8 & 9. I had time for one panel and one keynote the last day. Did I get bang for my buck. Both were straight ahead and live & direct. In other words, all involved spoke in the affirmative that advertising dollars are to be earned. Warner Bros.' Television Group President
Bruce Rosenbloom suggested that the ad industry use the expression ETC (electronically transmitted content) to open minds to the vast opportunity. ETC included TV, iPod, mobile phones, cable TV, PCs and IPTV. Using "
Field of Dreams" thinking,
if you produce appealing content, the audience will come.
If there's an audience, the advertiser has a sales platform. For the advertiser it's wonderful; for the consumer, there's no way out of commercial-free content unless you're willing to donate.
Rosenbloom kept his cheerful ad game face and energy up 200 degrees for his one-hour keynote. He reminded the audience that Warner Bros' content broadcasts across the five TV networks. America's top shows on NBC, ABC and CBS are Warner Bros properties. The quick stream of show clips tacitly underscored Warner Bros win-win situation. You don't like WB or CW? Don't sweat it; we have shows on other networks you may want to buy time. He referred to branded channels, animation and music as advertising opportunities. Rosenbloom's game face didn't fade a bit when asked about the striking TV writers. He said, "There's enough script to go through February 2008...thereafter, they could show reruns."
The conference production was as informative as the speakers. Gone were the microphones in the aisles to amplify audience members' voices. Rather, people sent text messages that were queued and displayed on a smaller screen on the stage. The moderators periodically fielded the questions. This provided an immediate, interactive air to the proceedings. The big screen, center foreground, showed dazzling feats of advertising ingenuity. The panel for
The Future of Television Advertising included
Barry Frey, SVP for Cablevision Advanced Platforms, Rick Mandler, Digital Media Advertising VP for
Disney/ABC Media Networks,
Michael Yudin, managing director for Carat Entertainment & president of MY Entertainment, Scott Ferris, SVP & GM for
Microsoft, and Victor Siegel, CEO for
Blue Frog Media. The panelists used cable TV to produce branded entertainment or branded channels. What is a branded channel" It's a cable channel that airs content for a particular business-say SONY. Branded content are programs that include a company's product in the storyline or the business' name is part of the title. Case in point Carat Entertainment has a casino show whose title included razor blade manufacturer, Schick.
Panel members showed examples interactivity with content and product. Cablevision has stations such as SONY Bravia TV that engage in two-way conversations with the consumer. For example some shows ask viewers "to choose your ending." Rick Mandler, Scott Ferris and Barry Frey discussed measurement methods. Mandler said Disney/ABC Media Networks were investigating the means to gage influence in purchase within a person's social network. Imagine, advertisers figuring out the number of Friends one MySpace member has and determining the extent to which his enthusiasm or dislike of a product had his Friends buy or avoid that product. Cablevision's Frey discussed measuring viewer behavior from the fast forwards, rewinds, plays and zooms done from the cable set up box. If they're able to pull that off, it's good-bye to Neilson boxes.
Labels: ads, advertising, ETC, media, society, technology, TiVo, TV ads, TV writers strike
Advertising Week2007
In its fourth year, Advertising Week2007 ran from September 24 – 28 in various venues in New York City. The splashy event drew advertising and media leaders from the US and Canada. This year’s focus was social impact, talent and diversity. Advertising agencies recognize the Internet’s rise as an important media that supports do-it-yourself programming. More Americans turn from ads that sell but don’t show America’s diversity in race, style and expression. New blood from different veins is needed to maintain the talent bank and address diversity in the media and the agency work place.
During the New York Times CEO Summit I – Media, held September 26, Laura Desmond CEO of StarCom Media Vest Group – The Americas stated that “There was no right or wrong way to get on the superhighway of change…we just have to commit to changing media choices…include digital and mobile channels.” Emilio Estefan shared his thoughts on connecting with Latinos during Univision’s Connect Via the Cultural Beat. Estefan, media genius and Grammy Award winner, believes music is an essential element for ads and programming to cross national boundaries. North American agencies must get off the trap of simply adding a beat and translating an ad to Spanish language. Rather, “the message requires a cultural translation.” While Estefan stressed the many nations that comprise Hispanic America, he fell short by not mentioning the ethnic diversity. Hispanics range from the light tan and slightly wavy-haired people who populate Telemundo and Univision programming to the Asian, the brown indigenous and African types who live there, too.
The highlight for September 26 for this columnist was Chaka Khan and Emily King’s appearance at Tribeca Cinemas, after the Branded Music Entertainment: How Leading Brands Activate Through Music panel. It was as if Chaka Khan was performing in my living room. Chaka Khan sang two cuts from her latest CD Funk This and classic rocking anthem “I’m Every Woman.”
Labels: advertising, Advertising Week2007, boutique PR firm, branded music, Chaka Khan, Emilio Estefan, Emily King, Laura Desmond, media, society, technology
Is it Marketing, Promotion or Advertising?
In the years I've been in business I realize that people are using words without understanding what they mean. In some instances, it's not understanding what they need. Case in point is what are marketing, promotion and advertising? If you're a business, it's different ways to communicate that you have something to sell. If you're a nonprofit, it's the means to let people know you offer a social service.
Advertising is a message placed in the media that you paid for. You know that people listen, read or watch a particular TV show, blog, radio station or website. So you pay to air an infomercial or buy the front inside page of a magazine. You say eveyone knows that but not true. Some people confuse advertsing with marketing. This may happen because there are elements of marketing in the bought space. Marketing is anything used to induce a sale or reward a sale.
Marketing is keeping your office clean; it's offering refreshments to your customer while she decides on a hairstyle and it's giving a rebate for buying a big-ticket item now rather than later. Marketing communication is the skillful use of words to conjure images and bring out emotions. Some marketing communication is worn from overuse. For example, "I'm not trying to rush you; it's just that I'm walking to the closet now and can bring the shoes back with me." I tried this trick at a bazaar. I kept asking this woman, "Put the dress in the bag?" She was pleased that the dresses were only twenty dollars. I had placed three dresses in the bag after the chief vendor had bagged the first dress.
Promotion, or public relations, is visibility and brand recognition through FREE message placement in the media. The key to placement is news worthiness or notoriety. Nonprofits have an easier time with placement than businesses because they are offering a free or low cost needed service. The trouble is many nonprofits don't submit press releases. Businesses are sweating for PR; it's free advertising. I was approached by a diamond jeweler to get a story in a newspaper about his beautiful rings. After some questioning to find a plausible news angle, I had to tell him that the newspaper in question would want the jeweler to buy advertising space. The jeweler was frustrated by this because he knew of another business that had a story in the newspaper. I pointed out that the other business did community service and held a free business class. These activities were seen as newsworthy. After all, the media stays in existence through advertising. Advertising is bought because many people like a type of story.
The ideal situation is finding the right balance between advertising, marketing and promotion to keep the sales coming. Advertising is necessary. There's no getting around it. If you can develop good will from marketing--offering a discount, doing free delivery--do it.
There are people who still say that what I've written is stale. I say that there are too many people who don't know or haven't got the terms straight in their minds.
Labels: advertising, marcom, marketing, media, promotion, radio, Web 2.0
