The ZenithOptimedia blog

US Magazines' Digital Circulation More Than Doubles - Advertising Age

2012-03-29T14:37:00.001+01:00

Magazines more than doubled their paid digital circulation in the most recent reporting period, but print remains the overwhelming majority of their business, according to a new analysis by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Read the full story at adage.com

Sun on Sunday sales fall another 100,000 | Media | guardian.co.uk

2012-03-28T15:51:00.001+01:00

via guardian.co.uk

The Trouble with Targeting on Connected TV - Ad Age

2012-03-28T15:31:00.001+01:00

Video is readily accessible to consumers, available whenever they want it from a smartphone, tablet, or computer. And now the streaming world of online video is available on the traditional TV set, with manufacturers expected to push out more models of connected TV this year.

Connected TV promises a blissful union of the TV advertising experience and online audience targeting. Yet it's not that easy to plug the online targeting model into interactive TV, because of the noticeable absence of one key factor: data.

Online audience targeting is possible online because users go from site to site, bouncing between retail and news and video and entertainment, creating advertising opportunities in the process. It's safe to say consumers aren't going to use their TV set as their primary web-browsing device, leaving no historic web behavior data or cookies to fall back on. Advertisers need to get creative to find and target their audience.

Read the full story at adage.com

Emap plans three-way break-up - FT

2012-03-28T15:11:00.001+01:00

via ft.com

3 Marketing Lessons from the Hunger Games | Moxie Pulse

2012-03-27T11:46:00.001+01:00

The Hunger Games won the weekend box office with over $150 million in ticket sales in North America alone. The film has now entered the top 3 highest grossing premiere weekends of all time, only behind the last Harry Potter installment and The Dark Knight.

How did this film adaptation of a young adult book series become a blockbuster that has left people saying, “Twilight who?”

The answer lies in an effective digital marketing campaign that took some unconventional approaches and leveraged emerging media channels.

Worldbuilding on Facebook

The first place to learn from the Hunger Games is Facebook.

Multiple Facebook Pages were used to promote the film to flesh out the world of the books. In the books, competitors in the Hunger Games come from 12 Districts in Panem, a dystopian United States. On Facebook, each district has its own Page, and exclusive content was made available that was unique to each district to reward fans who took a deeper dive into the world built online.

The Facebook experience wasn’t just a digital extension of the world of Panem, but also an opportunity to extend Panem into the physical world as well. Facebook fans are eligible to get free ID cards from their district of choice thanks to a partnership between the film and Cafe Press.

Tumblr-Driven Fiction

The Hunger Games campaign also effectively used Tumblr. According to a recent ComScore report, time spent on Tumblr is second only to Facebook within the social media space, so social marketing on Tumblr makes a lot of sense for entertainment if you’ve got the right content.

To promote the film, the Hunger Games marketers focused on content that catered to Tumblr audience:

• Fashion: The Capitol Couture theme of the Hunger Games Tumblr provides fashion from the film and also real clothing from famous designers that align with the visual aesthetic of the film. The site even features guides for Hunger Games fashion and etiquette.

• Animated GIFs: The site made extensive use of animated GIFs, a digital medium extremely popular within the Tumblr community. The GIFs of characters like Seneca Crane and Effie Trinket managed to be on par with the average amount of “shares” that images posted to Facebook have (around 1500) with fewer followers on Tumblr than on Facebook.

• Challenges and Contests: The Hunger Games and Moviefone also feature District Style Challenges and the #LookYourBest contest. The style challenges required Tumblr users to submit their own fashions inspired by the series with real images or simply mockups. The #LookYourBest contest was a simple way for Tumblr users to win advance tickets to the screening by sending an email with the address to their Tumblr blog.

Mobile and Social Gaming

When it comes to gaming, the Hunger Games is both a great example and a poor example of game-based marketing.

The mobile game for the movie is a great example of creating simple, addicting fun. The gameplay is relaxed, low stakes, and a simple way to kill some time. It’s also a great example of impulse commerce since the “Extras” section makes it easy to buy movie tickets directly from the app.

The social game on Facebook is lackluster and currently non-existent despite a proposed launch date of March 23. Marketers looking to integrate games into a campaign need to stick to launch deadlines to capitalize more effectively on pre-launch buzz. People looking for a more effective use of social gaming in entertainment marketing may want to look to the Game of Thrones social game launched last year or a host of in-game integrations other films have used.

While not every film is destined to break box office records, the marketing efforts behind the Hunger Games demonstrate how transmedia storytelling can help build anticipation for a film and more effectively bring fictional worlds to life through the use of social media.

Simeon Spearman, 03.26.2012

via moxieinteractive.com

Performics Weekly Digital Research Recap

2012-03-27T11:26:00.001+01:00

Posted by Cristina Lucero & Christina Mannarino, Performics Research & Insights Team

United States

Channel Insights

Search

-What If Yahoo! Sells Right Media? (ClickZ)

Yahoo! may sell off some of its ad platforms. The move is seen as an alternative to investing resources needed to upgrade the platforms.

Such a move wouldn't exit Yahoo! from ad technology entirely. The company owns a large portfolio of ad products, including Blue Lithium, Dapper, and a huge ad optimization platform - each of which has a technology component. However the sale of Right Media in particular would change the company's role in the ad-buying ecosystem.

Performics reaction: "As an advertiser, we're less concerned about the technology and more concerned about the inventory changing. Right Media has probably the most extensive selection of high-quality bidded inventory available to trading desks like ours at Performics, so as long as they don't lose anything we're happy."

Read the full article here.

-comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 U.S. Web Properties for February 2012

comScore's stats for February show that Google still rules the Web, with 186.6 million visitors

Pinterest really is on fire, with a 52% increase in unique visitors over a single month

The next biggest properties were Microsoft Sites with 174.4 million and Yahoo! sites with 173.5 million. Facebook, in the meantime, came in at number four with 158.6 million visitors, and, curiously, MySpace jumped 8 positions to rank number 42 with 25.5 million visitors.

Mobile

-Mobile Barcodes Drive Traffic to Brand Sites from Print (eMarketer)

A February 2012 report found that well-planned campaigns put mobile barcodes in attention-grabbing places, and then gave customers a clear call to action to lead them to content

More than 40% of 2-D barcodes took users to general commerce and product information online, and just over 23% led customers to brand-building sites

The pairing of video with mobile barcodes was also a popular approach, with about 13% of landing pages containing video content

The open-source QR code remains the advertising industry standard with almost 90% market penetration

-Tablets to Be Major Player in Mobile Games (Juniper Research)

A new study suggests that their large screen sizes and impressive graphics will make tablets a growing force in mobile games

Juniper Research predicts total end-user revenue from tablet games will grow to $3.1 billion by 2014, up from $491 million in 2011

Juniper projects that social and casual games will drive the bulk of mobile game downloads overall. And because of the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, game revenue on feature phones will be cut in half by 2016.

Read the full article here

Social

-Twitter Takes Promoted Tweets Mobile (Twitter)

Twitter has announced that it is to begin showing Promoted Tweets to mobile users who don’t follow the advertiser's feed

Twitter has also added new targeting tools that allow advertisers to target their messages to desktop computers and laptops or specifically to mobile devices

Given that 55% of the more than 100 million users who log in to Twitter every month do so at least once via mobile, this expanded roll out of Promoted Tweets in mobile is a great opportunity for brands to connect with more users, more of the time

Read the Twitter blog post here

Demographics

Teens

-Teens, Smartphones & Texting (PewResearchCenter)

63% of U.S. teens were text-messaging daily as of July 2011, up from 54% in September 2009

The Pew report also showed that about one in four (23%) of teens have a smartphone. There are no differences in ownership of smartphones compared to regular cell phones by race, ethnicity, or income

When it comes to tablets, about 16% of teens used the devices to go online in the last 30 days

18% of smartphone users shared their location compared with 8% of regular phone owners and 2% of all other teens. Older teens, at 9%, are most likely to use location services like Foursquare

Read the full report here

Men

-Men Show Online-Shopping Savvy (eMarketer)

Men not only check online for the best prices on products and services in traditionally “male” categories such as auto and tech, but they also do a significant amount of online comparing of prices in more “female” sectors like health/wellness and food/cooking

Men go even further in their research, too, with over half reading reviews of products and services and nearly as many sharing positive research results with friends

Men’s shopping savvy continues when they are in the store, too. There, they use their smartphones as tools to make decisions. Nearly as many men as women will call a friend to ask advice about a purchase while they’re shopping in a store.

Global

Channel Insights

Social

-Brazil’s Social Networking Activity Accelerates in the Past Year Fueled by Facebook Growth (comScore)

Key insights from the 2012 Brazil Digital Future in Focus include:

Brazil ranks as the 7th largest Internet market globally with a home and work computer audience of 46.3 million visitors age 15 and older, up 16% from the previous year

Facebook surpassed Orkut in December 2011, taking the lead as the top social networking destination in Brazil with 36.1 million visitors, up 192% from the previous year

Facebook also became the most-engaging social networking site with visitors averaging 4.8 hours on the site in December 2011, up from just 37 minutes a year ago. Mobile phones and tablets continue to alter the digital landscape, accounting for 1.5% of all digital traffic in Brazil during December. Of this proportion of total activity, more than 42% was driven by page views occurring on tablet devices.

Read the press release here

Mobile

-Mobile Internet Uptake on the Rise in France (eMarketer)

Mobile Internet usage surged in 2011, after stagnating from 2009 to 2010

In addition, reading email (19%), downloading applications (17%) and watching TV (8%) all nearly doubled in adoption rates over 2010, according to the annual report from French telecom and postal regulator l’Autorité de Régulation des Communications électroniques et des Postes (ARCEP) and the Conseil général de l'industrie, de l'énergie et des technologies (CGEIET)

By the end of 2012, eMarketer estimates total mobile phone users in France will reach 50 million and mobile internet users will reach 14 million, or roughly 28% of all mobile users in the country

Industry Insights

Auto

-Auto Brands Must Play by Five New Rules to Win Over Chinese Consumers (TNS)

The dealer is your new best friend: In China, car dealers are viewed as the most reliable source of advice throughout the buying process

"We" matters more than "me": In a nation where 80% of people are first-time buyers, people rely heavily on the advice of friends and family, as well as on social media, when it comes to choosing a car. Manufacturers need to understand how to mobilize customers and fans to become brand ambassadors, for instance by providing practical advice for new drivers via social media and customer support.

Once people start looking, it’s too late: Brand loyalty towards cars in China is low and fewer people have fixed ideas about what they want at the outset

Offer the right deal: Getting a good deal is extremely important to Chinese buyers: 80% buy a car having secured a discount

Ignore digital at your peril: 95% of Chinese participants use online sources during the buying process, and around a quarter are classed as heavy users

Read the report brief here

Thanks as always to the team at blog.performics.com!

3D Movies Languish at US Box Office - Media Market Research at iSuppli

2012-03-27T10:51:00.001+01:00

via isuppli.com

Telegraph Media Group profits fall 7.5% | Media | guardian.co.uk

2012-03-26T14:58:00.001+01:00

via guardian.co.uk

The Fastest Adopted Gadget of the Past 50 Years | Geekosystem

2012-03-26T14:36:00.001+01:00

via geekosystem.com

3 Emerging Media Spaces to Watch | Moxie Pulse

2012-03-22T15:55:00.001+00:00

Consumers want greater control over their media. They want it to look great on whatever device they’re using, and they want their media to align with their emotional and physical needs in real-time. Three emerging media spaces are giving consumers this control, and they will change the way we think about consuming print, video, and audio.

Smart Magazines

For marketers looking for emerging alternatives to print beyond websites and run-of-the-mill status updates, an emerging slate of digital readers are making it easy to view content optimized for smartphones, tablets, and social media.

• Social Magazines: Tablet and smartphone owners are looking for news readers that bring their social feeds, blogs, and mainstream news sources together without the clutter found on most websites. Flipboard and Google Currents solve for that. Flipboard claims that reading sessions on the app are 8 to 10 times longer than those on the Web. Publishers are taking note. For example, Forbes already has over 450,000 Flipboard subscribers and 900,000 Currents subscribers and is looking to expand ad partnerships with both publishers.

• Digital Catalogs: One of the more surprising updates to Apple’s App Store following the new iPad announcement was the creation of a Catalogs section. Google’s Catalogs app also brings old print catalogs to the digital space. Digital catalogs will turn tablets and smartphones into important new e-commerce drivers. Moving beyond apps, Pinterest, Fancy, and other image bookmarking sites are serving as social catalogs, as evidenced by their growing referral traffic.

• Facebook News Readers: A recent Pew Research study found that only 9% of Americans get their news “very often” from Facebook and Twitter. Facebook is looking to change that alongside publishers. The Guardian and other traditional news outlets have turned to Facebook apps to increase their audience. Facebook “Frictionless Sharing” makes it easy for users to share what they read across through these apps without having to click share buttons, and publishers are benefitting. Meanwhile, Facebook’s “Interest Lists” make it easy for people to turn Facebook into a news stand.

Ubiquitous Video Players

Online video viewing continues to go up as more people turn to the Internet to get their entertainment. New video players make it easy for brands to broadcast their owned video assets across multiple platforms.

• Social Video Players: ShowYou aggregates videos shared across social networks in a single, easy to use interface for tablet and smartphone owners. This makes it easy for people to filter out everything else that pops up in their social streams and focus on video, potentially increasing visibility for your brand’s online videos. Apps like ShowYou will play a role in mobile video similar to how Flipboard and Currents function for news.

• Leanback Players: YouTube launched Leanback a while back to make it easy for people to view videos on connected TVs and tablets. With the smart TV market highly fragmented across a small, but growing, audience, Web-based leanback players are a compelling alternative to developing apps for every smart TV platform. Cartoon Network developed such an experience for its online video player. The leanback approach more closely mimics TV viewing, making online video advertising a more compelling alternative or complement to TV as the couch experience improves.

• Live Video Players: 2012 is showing that live video is becoming an important part of the marketing mix. The political campaigns for President Obama and Mitt Romney have used Google+ Hangouts and YouTube Live to engage with voters. Coca-Cola is using Hangouts to showcase memorabilia to fans and drive live conversations.

Mood-based Media

Media creates emotional reactions. Sometimes consumers want media that fits their mood or that will put them in a certain mood. We’ve discussed the potential of the mood graph before, and now the concept is expanding into new areas.

• Mood-based Music: Music has become highly social and interactive. Spotify’s app platform makes it easy to discover music in new ways. Moodagent is an app for Spotify and other devices that lets people generate playlists based on the mood they’re in. The emotional data collected will now drive a new audio advertising partnership between Moodagent and Mixberry Media. Ads will be targeted based on the moods that brands do, or don’t, want to be associated with.

• Mood-based News: Buzzfeed is a social news site that categorizes its content based on the emotional reactions readers have had to an article. The company is moving into specific topic verticals, but the site has been built on the emotional links between users and content. Brands have used the site to advertise against different emotions and even create custom “reactions” for visitors of the site to use on articles.

• Mood-based Ads: This is an emerging space, but brands love to guarantee that their messaging is aligned with a certain emotional state. Mood graphs and emotion analytics provide a new way to do this. Potential applications beyond music and news could be in video, with platforms like Hulu Ad Swap making it easy for viewers to choose their own ads, an emotional cue could provide a new way to build an emotional connection with your audience.

Looking Ahead

The new media sources give people more control over how they consume news, video, and music, which is a big part of why the above examples are being adopted.

These emerging platforms are changing how consumers discover and interact with media, and they present new opportunities for advertising that complements content instead of interrupting it.

Take a test and learn approach. The audiences for these platforms remain comparatively small to well established traditional and online media alternatives, but brands looking for new approaches to digital marketing will want to explore these emerging spaces in depth.

Simeon Spearman, 03.21.2012

via moxieinteractive.com

Mobile accounts for one-fifth of ITV Player views - MediaTel

2012-03-22T15:42:00.001+00:00

via mediatel.co.uk

Independent News & Media report €63m loss | Media | guardian.co.uk

2012-03-22T15:29:00.001+00:00

via guardian.co.uk

Twitter Says It Has 140 Million Users - Mashable

2012-03-22T11:59:00.001+00:00

via mashable.com

Sun on Sunday's sales slump as rivals regroup | Media | guardian.co.uk

2012-03-21T11:56:00.001+00:00

via guardian.co.uk

Programming Buzz from Zenith: 2012-2013 FOX Development Meeting

2012-03-21T11:28:00.001+00:00

2012-2013 FOX Development Meeting

Last week, FOX held its annual programming development meeting for key advertisers at News Corp.’s headquarters in NYC. Kevin Reilly, President of FOX Entertainment presented the network’s 2012-2013 development slate.

Following a number of viewership stats touting the 11/12 season thus far, Reilly launched into FOX’s comedy agenda, a big initiative for the network next year. With the success of New Girl, FOX plans to premiere no less than four new comedies, pairing them with current programs (Glee, Raising Hope and New Girl). A focus on young ensemble casts and family relationships has spearheaded much of comedy development. Reilly stated moderate-performing Raising Hope is a quality family comedy that he expects to improve if combined with another compatible family sitcom. From Emmy-nominated Mindy Kaling, writer, producer and actress of The Office, Mindy is a romantic comedy set in a medical practice about an OB/GYN doctor (Kaling), who succeeds in her career, but not her love life, receiving little help from her colleagues and friends. According to Reilly, he’d ideally like to pair Mindy with New Girl. Following the theme of young adult ensembles is Rebounding. Executive produced by Steve Levitan of Modern Family fame, the comedy revolves around a group of friends who rally around Danny (Will Forte) after his fiancée suddenly dies.

Featuring the trials and tribulations of family relationships, FOX has a number of comedies in the pipeline. From producer Dana Fox (New Girl), Ben Fox Is My Manny is a sibling relationship about an irresponsible brother who moves in with his younger sister to help raise her five-year-old daughter. Abby Elliot (SNL) is committed to star in this project. Goodwin Games follows three siblings who have grown apart, but come together to claim their father’s $20 million inheritance. Speaking from the grave, the father has made claiming the money a game, hoping to rebuild the siblings’ relationships. Scott Foley (Felicity) and Becky Newton (Ugly Betty) are set to star. Comedy pilot, Little Brother, provides a different perspective, as a recently incarcerated man moves in with his long lost brother (John Stamos) and family to try and turn his life around.

Switching to parental relationships, Like Father centers on Van (Colin Ferguson), a father of a 19-year-old son who has always been more of a peer with a frat boy mentality than a father figure, that follows his son to college after his mother passes away. Mike O’Malley (Glee) stars as the father in Prodigy Bully, about a 11-year-old boy genius who grew up in a working class neighborhood and is enrolled in a gifted school with very sheltered and upper class prodigy students.

Reviewing recent dramas this season, O’Reilly discussed the potential for freshman series, Alcatraz, to return next season as well as their anticipation over Touch, which previewed in January with its regular run scheduled to begin this Thursday (3/22/12). Looking to fill Monday nights in the absence of House and Terra Nova next year, FOX has an aggressive slate of high impact, action dramas in development. Rogue comes from Brett Ratner, about a 14 year old girl named Jane who moves in with an assassin after her CIA operative father is killed in action. Part action-spy drama and part coming-of-age tale, Rogue follows Jane as she acclimates to life at her new high school, while also participating in CIA missions. The drama stars Julian McMahon and Angela Bassett. Also providing a CIA storyline is The Asset, featuring Ali Larter (Heros) as Anna, a photojournalist and undercover CIA agent who will go to great lengths to accomplish an assignment. Noting the return of Kevin Bacon to network television, FOX is developing Mastermind, a new thriller created and executive produced by Kevin Williamson (Scream, Dawson’s Creek). Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) is a serial killer who has escaped from prison just before his scheduled execution. Authorities call on former FBI agent Ryan Hardy (Bacon) for help as he was the one who originally tracked down and caught Carroll nine years ago.

Crossing the line between medical and crime drama, Mob Doctor centers around a Chicago cardiothoracic surgeon (Jordana Spiro) who is indebted to the mob to pay off her brother’s life-threatening gambling debts. By day she a well-renowned leading surgeon in her field, but by night she provides medical care to the mafia under dangerous circumstances. Transitioning to the legal world in pilots, Cuba Gooding Jr. stars as Billy Weston, a top corporate attorney in Guilty, who is disbarred after being framed. After assembling a group of renegade attorneys, Weston and his associates work both inside and outside the courtroom to help clients. McG is credited as an executive producer and directs the pilot episode.

Among alternative programming, FOX is taking advantage of its leader status among animation, providing an animation block on Saturday nights from 11pm-12:30am beginning in January 2013. Coined Animation Domination HD (AD/HD) and headed by former Adult Swim exec, Nick Weidenfield, the unit will develop and air original animated shorts and series on the linear channel, while also making content available online. With The X-Factor returning, there is little need for reality content, with O’Reilly only reviewing one unscripted series, Take Me Out. Based on a popular U.K. format, Take Me Out is a game-show style dating competition program where one man is given the chance to make a positive first impression among 30 women. However, it is the man that gets final say on who he plans to take on a dream date. The show is planned to launch this summer.

The Zenith Media Research Team will continue to monitor future development meetings and Upfront announcements with the latest information on the upcoming 2012-2013 season.

posted by Strategic Resources @ Zenithmedia at 12:39 PM

via zenithbuzz.blogspot.co.uk

Performics' POV on Google's “Over-Optimization” Update - Performics Performance Marketing Blog

2012-03-21T11:10:00.001+00:00

Matt Cutts, the head of Google’s Web spam team, briefly outlined an algorithm update designed to “level the playing field” between sites with good content and sites that over-use SEO. This update will make search results more useful for Google users, but site owners who have invested in SEO will be understandably concerned about the effect this update will have on their visibility and ranking. Will all sites be penalized for using SEO? Is SEO still necessary for visibility, or is it now a liability?

This document presents Performics’ POV on this upcoming algorithmic change and its likely impact on Web results.

What sites will the update target and penalize?

Websites that prioritize SEO strategies over relevant, useful content will be the most likely to experience a reduction in visibility.

When will this update hit Google’s result pages?

Matt Cutts discussed this algorithm update on March 9, 2012 but did not provide any specific release date. He said “Hopefully, in the next couple months or so, in the coming weeks, we hope to release it.” Does this mean next week or before the end of the year? Your guess is as good as ours on this one.

What specific SEO strategies should be avoided?

It is important to understand the context of Mr. Cutt’s comments. As of March 20th, Google has made no official announcements about the contents of the update. News of this update came when Matt Cutts was at a SXSW conference panel and an audience member asked about how Google plans to address search keyword markets that have been saturated with optimized content. For example, certain search queries can return a full page of results that have nothing to recommend them except their optimization for that specific query with common SEO tactics. This can push relevant, useful content further down in the results, which leaves actual subject matter experts at a disadvantage if their sites haven’t done SEO.

In response, Matt Cutts referred in a general way to the planned update that he and his engineers have been working on. The full recording of the panel is available here. In this recording, Matt Cutts said that the update would target “the people who sort of abuse [SEO]”, and outlined several areas of content this update will address:

1. “Too many keywords on the page”

This likely refers to the insertion of targeted keywords on the page to create a high keyword density at the expense of the page’s meaning and readability. For example, the body copy contains several sentences that repeat the target keyword phrase and its variations, such as “Our company sells widgets. Buy a widget online today. Our company makes widgets and sells them” (etc. ad nauseum). Google has likely refined its algorithm to the point where it can distinguish between pages that use and over-use specific keywords, and will penalize the latter.

2. “Whether they exchange way too many links”

This likely refers to the practice of “Link Exchanges,” where a group of sites set up reciprocal networks of links that include targeted keywords in the anchor text. If a site has a large number of links that do not point to content that is relevant and useful, or if the site’s inbound and outbound links form a specific pattern resembling a link exchange (e.g. links to sites that link to the same sites, the link anchor text is repeated too often, etc.), the site will be penalized.

3. “Whatever they're doing to go beyond what a normal person would expect in a particular area”

The basics of SEO tactics - search engines like links, they look for repetition of specific text in the body copy, etc. – are so well known at this point that they can be abused by programmatic text generation or obvious repetition for the sake of visibility. Experienced Web masters or search engine users can easily tell when a search result has been “SEO’d” or “over-optimized”, that is, structured to produce visibility rather than provide usability. In the same way, Google’s algorithms will become more advanced at detecting sites that are attempting to game SEO basics and mimic relevance to keyword searches.

How will Google’s update affect SEO in general?

Google’s update does not represent any sort of departure from its standards and is fully in-line with its previous algorithmic developments. Performics will revise none of its SEO practices because we have always encouraged our clients to create pages that are useful and relevant for visitors. Google has achieved its market dominance by largely keeping its result pages spam-free, and as SEO abuse has become another kind of spam, Google will target and penalize these abuses as per usual.

Basic SEO involves well-written title tags, a logical site architecture, and representative body content that search engines can index. While basic SEO will always be necessary for websites that depend on search traffic, it can be abused, and Google’s new update specifically targets this abuse.

Good SEO, on the other hand, will never need to chase algorithms. Performics’ successful optimization tactics result from working with our clients to ensure that their pages are not only rich in content and provide a relevant, useful experience for visitors, but also that their content is fairly and accurately represented to search engines.

Follow blog.performics.com for more great analysis from Performics.

New York Times to halve amount of web articles that can be viewed for free | Media | guardian.co.uk

2012-03-21T11:00:00.001+00:00

via guardian.co.uk

UK mobile ad spend soars 157% to £203m - Guardian

2012-03-20T12:13:00.000+00:00

Via The Guardian

Superstar Athletes Give a Lesson in Marketing - Moxie

2012-03-20T12:00:00.000+00:00

Superstar Athletes Give a Lesson in Marketing
It’s been quite a year for Tim Tebow and Jeremy Lin. Whether or not you’re a fan of the Denver Broncos or New York Knicks, the crazy buzz surrounding Tebow and Lin was definitely difficult to ignore. There wasn’t a day when these athletes were playing that I didn’t see a status update of the popular “Tebowing” meme regarding the former Gator’s quarterback and or a Linsanity reference for the Harvard graduate.
Athletes like Tim Tebow and Jeremy Lin are really viral marketing in its raw form. Everything from their background to the games they play – bottom line is people know how to market these players to get the attention of people.
Lesson #1: Let the Underdogs Speak

People like a good story. But, people love inspirational stories that talk about rising up from tough situations even more.
Tebow’s glory days as the Gator’s all-star dwindled once he was drafted to the Denver Broncos as a back-up quarterback. He wasn’t given much of a chance until fans rallied for him to play, and soon Tebow turned the Bronco’s losing record into a 6-game winning streak and which took them into the playoffs.
Jeremy Lin’s story is similar. He was drafted into the NBA and was cut from two teams. The Knicks were also about to let him go – that is until they heard the pleas of teammates and fans to finally give him playing time in place of an injured Baron Davis. Lin went on to taking the Knicks to a 7 straight winning streak.
Fans voiced their opinion to let the underdogs play; while the teams were hesitant, they still took a chance and listened to their fans — which proved to be a good idea. What was the lesson learned? It is always important to listen to the concerns of your fans. Your brand should always have the consumer’s interest in mind when looking for ways to improve your business.

Lesson #2: It’s Okay to Take A Leap of Faith

Tebow and Lin’s circumstances put them in a position where they had nothing to lose. If all things failed, Tebow still had a career in the NFL and Lin still had his Harvard degree.
The Bronco’s and the Knicks had nothing to lose. Both teams were on a losing streak with key players out of the game. The coaches took a risk and the rest became history.
Some brands are wary of innovation, but it is important to weigh the pros and cons. What is the worst that can happen? What if this campaign actually succeeds? It’s okay for you to step outside of your comfort zone when it comes to marketing campaigns. Sometimes, marketing efforts are successful when risks are taken and those brands are often recognized as innovative thought-leaders. The initial leap of faith is all it takes.

Lesson #3: Utilize Social to Spread the Word

If it weren’t for Twitter and Facebook, we probably wouldn’t have seen nearly as much hype about Tebow and Lin. People were engaging in conversations within social sites which really helped lead these two athletes to stardom.
Social media plays a big role in the way people receive and share information, and it is also a key element for viral marketing. Drive organic conversations by providing consumers with relevant content at the right time and encouraging people to engage with each other.

So the next time you’re watching a game on ESPN and you see an amazing play, see if you can pick up a thing or two about marketing. You know you’ll be seeing the highlights on Facebook and Twitter by the end of the game.
Ivy Chang, 03.19.12

From Moxie Pulse

Mobile Devices Even More Pervasive, According to New Pew Study - L2

2012-03-20T11:45:00.000+00:00

See L2 for the whole story

Performics Weekly Digital Research Recap

2012-03-20T11:28:00.000+00:00

United States

Channel Insights

Search
-Pew Research Center Report: Search Engine Use 2012

91% of online adults use search engines to find information on the web, up from 84% in June 2004

Search is most popular among young adult Internet users, those who have been to college, and those with the highest household incomes

Frequency of search engine use varies by age, education and income, with adults under age 50 and those with more education and higher household incomes using search more frequently than others

Google is far and away the most popular search engine. Fully 83% of searchers use Google more often than any other search engine. Yahoo! is a very distant second at just 6%.

Read the full report here

-comScore Releases January 2012 U.S. Search Engine Rankings

Google gained share vs. last month. However, the big news is that Bing is now firmly ahead of Yahoo in “explicit core search.” But using comScore’s expanded “total core search” definition, Yahoo! remains ahead of Bing. Google Sites led the U.S. explicit core search market in January with 66.2 percent market share (up 0.3 percentage points), followed by Microsoft Sites with 15.2 percent (up 0.1 percentage points) and Yahoo! Sites with 14.1 percent.

Read the full comScore report here

-Marketers Targeting College Kids Should Stick with Search (eMarketer)

eMarketer estimates that nearly 83% of all U.S. Internet users will use a search engine at least once a month during 2012

53% of college students surveyed ranked search engines as the most important source in helping them find a place to live

85% of college attendees worldwide turned to Google to gather information for class assignments, up from 81% who did so in 2008

For search marketers, however, this means they can count on college students turning to Google and similar sites for the widest range of purposes, from lifestyle decisions to academic research

Mobile
-A Store in Your Pocket: Retailer Mobile Websites Beat Apps among U.S. Smartphone Owners (Nielsen)

Smartphone owners of both genders prefer retailers’ mobile websites over mobile apps, with men slightly more likely to try retailers’ mobile apps than women. However, participants who use retailers’ mobile apps tend to spend more time on them.

All of the top 5 mobile retail websites experienced a “bump” during the days leading up to and following Black Friday, led by Amazon. This seasonal lift did not translate into an increase in regular usage, however. By January, active reach was back to October 2011 levels.

Retailers need to think of their business as a multi-channel environment that can potentially include mobile, online, and bricks and mortar stores. Winning with shoppers requires a consistent experience across channels that reinforces the values you represent as a retail brand, whether it be price, service, reviews, selection, style, or other key attributes.

Read the full Nielson blog post here

-What Siri Means for the Future of Mobile Shopping (eMarketer)

Data from February 2012 from Catapult Marketing showed that more than 1/3 of shoppers have either already used or would be interested in using Siri to compare prices at the shelf, while nearly as many would want Siri to check inventory for them at another store. Even more popular: sending Siri off in search of coupons and deals while the smartphone owner shopped

Grocery shopping will likely be most affected by Siri and her future competitors, with just under half of respondents saying they had used Siri for this purpose or would be interested in doing so. They also planned to use Siri's price comparison, list-making and other capabilities to shop for electronics (39%), apparel and home appliances (33% each).

eMarketer estimates that 68.6 million Americans will use a smartphone to conduct mobile research and browsing activities this year

Social
-Engauge's Power Panel Study: Pinterest Pinnings for Search Marketers (MediaPost)

About 229 people follow the average Pinterest user, who spends approximately 89 minutes on the site connecting board visitors to brand Web pages with a click of a button. This person has 3 boards, 171 pins, and 28 likes. Worldwide, 83% are female.

Who's pinning? New Yorkers pin the most, with 22%, followed by Los Angeles at 15%, Austin at 10%, Minneapolis at 10%, San Francisco at 8%, Portland at 7%, and San Diego at 6%

They discuss Pinterest as a connective tissue, which emphasizes the importance of optimizing company Web sites, content and social sites like Facebook. The connection drives people from Pinterest to the website or Facebook Fan Page for more information about a product or service.

Read the full article here

Demographics

Hispanics
-OMD Latino Study: Hispanics are top online influencers

90% of online Hispanics use social media at least once a month and 9% voice opinions about brands compared to 4% of general-market shoppers

Additionally, Hispanics are active users of mobile social media when they shop and are twice as likely as the general market to check such sources while they consider purchases

Hispanics are also more active in post-shopping, when they’re more likely to post a review or share their experience. They influence others’ purchase decisions and are equally influenced by others as they make their choices.

Read about the study here

Global

Channel Insights
Mobile
-Europe Tops US in Mobile Ad Response Rates (eMarketer)

According to Q3 2011 research from Nielsen, smartphone and tablet users in Germany, Italy and the UK responded more favorably to mobile ads than U.S. device owners did

Only 20% of U.S. smartphone owners went on to purchase via PC after seeing a mobile ad, compared to 34% of smartphone owners in Germany

Moreover, only 11% of U.S. smartphone owners researched a mobile advertiser after viewing a mobile ad, compared to 27% of smartphone owners in Italy

U.S. mobile marketers should take note of the distinctions between U.S. and Western European participant behavior when it comes to mobile advertisements. Whereas U.S. tablet owners were slightly more responsive to ads than their smartphone-owning counterparts, mobile device owners in Germany, Italy and the UK tended to be more engaged by mobile ads across devices.

-Understanding the Changing Needs of Online Consumers In Latin America (Forrester)

54% of online metropolitan Mexicans and 38% of online metropolitan Brazilians regularly connect with others via social networks like Facebook and orkut on the mobile phone. In fact, this need to connect and engage with others anytime, anywhere is a daily activity for 41% of online metropolitan Mexicans and 11% of online metropolitan Brazilians.

Entertainment is a critical piece of the online experience. Eighty-six percent of online metropolitan Brazilians and 83% of online metropolitan Mexicans watch video from other users on sites like YouTube, and more than two-thirds of online metropolitan Brazilians and Mexicans listen to or download music from other users

Market insights professionals should take advantage by examining how these early adopters interact with the online world and test which online and mobile strategies will resonate. Leveraging these ironed-out strategies when online adoption reaches the masses will position their organization for success

Thanks to Performics.

Emap looks to £100m magazine sell-off - Business News - Business - The Independent

2012-03-19T12:41:00.001+00:00

Publishing and events business Emap is understood to have lined up corporate adviser Hawkpoint to sell its trade magazines business, which includes industry-leading titles Nursing Times and Broadcast.

Emap, which is owned by private equity group Apax and Guardian Media Group, met a number of advisers recently over a role to review the business, but Hawkpoint is chief executive Duncan Painter's preferred choice. It is believed that the sale of Emap Inform is the favoured option to reinvigorate the business, as trade titles and their award ceremonies have suffered badly during the downturn.

See independent.co.uk for the whole story

Why Google search's overhaul will matter to businesses - Telegraph

2012-03-19T12:24:00.001+00:00

via telegraph.co.uk

American and European Tablet Owners More Comfortable Paying for Content | Nielsen Wire

2012-03-16T11:42:00.001+00:00

via blog.nielsen.com

March 11-16: Cheat Sheet | Moxie Pulse

2012-03-16T11:26:00.001+00:00

Want to catch up with what happened in the digital world this week? Our weekly cheat sheet will fill you in on everything you missed while you were scrambling to meet deadlines and put out fires.

Read on to learn how Neiman Marcus is revolutionizing the retail experience, how Marvel is turning their comic books into magical experiences and how a webcam can let you control your computer with a wave of your hand.

App Delivers Customers’ Shopping History

Neiman Marcus is trialling its NM Service app that provides a customer’s purchase history as they walk into stores. Once customers opt-in, the store will detect when they walk in and provide new product and event information. Sales associates will also have a version of the app that will show the customer’s previous purchase history to help better assist them.

Marvel Paves the Way for the Comic of the Future

Last weekend at SXSW Marvel announced plans to provide digital versions of its comics that can be accessed by scanning barcodes on the print versions with a mobile device. Select issues will even facilitate augmented reality experiences that expand on the story or provide alternate story lines. The comic company is also creating a digital-only division that will produce comics with animations and other effects.

Peel Develops a Second-screen App for TV Viewers That Doubles as a Universal Remote

At SXSW, Peel unveiled new social tools within their app that will make the viewing experience more fun. They are trying out the new system with American Idol viewers. Users can give digital “cheers” and “boos” in real-time during performances on the show. This is a great example of how companies are trying to take advantage of the new living room.

The iPhone 4S Has Officially Launched in China on the Nation’s Second and Third-largest Carriers

While many in the U.S. would expect Apple to dominate the Chinese market, the iPhone faces major competition from Samsung, which already has a 3-to-1 lead over Apple and a partnership with China Mobile, the country’s largest carrier. Either way the smartphone space in China is heating up, which will mean big growth for the country’s mobile social networks and new opportunities for global brands to connect with mobile Chinese consumers.

Flutter Lets You Control Your Music by Waving Your Hands

Flutter is a new app that makes use of your Mac’s built-in webcam to start and stop your music. It runs in the background of your computer and is only activated when you’re playing a video or listening to music.

Amex Gets Off to Strong Start With Twitter Couponing Partnership

Last week, we reported that Amex had launched a new program integrating Twitter with their Sync program, tying offers to other social media platforms. An Amex rep reported that the #AmExMcdonalds, had 2,000 tweets within 48hrs of launch and so far the programs are exceeding expectations for other partners such as Wholefoods & Virgin. If you haven’t checked out the digital coupons you should, you could be getting $25 off a $75 purchase at Wholefoods by tweeting #AmExWholefoods. We’ll keep a watch on how this initiative progresses, particularly if customers actually follow through with the purchase.

via moxieinteractive.com