AP Works Toward Universal Online News Format -  The Associated Press, along with fellow non-profit The Media Standards Trust, unveiled a digital news “microformat” to effectively encapsulate the content and key meta-data of every news story online.

Bing’s Growth Accelerates - Microsoft is gaining ground with its search engine Bing, but Google still dominates the market. Microsoft’s Bing grabbed 5.25% of the U.S. Internet search market in the four weeks ending June 27, while Google captured 74% of the market, according to data released by Hitwise.

Evian’s Babies Take Internet By Storm -  Evian’s break-dancing babies have become an instant viral success — which is just how the bottled water company likes it, since there’s no TV media buy planned for the U.S. to support the new ad campaign, themed “Live young.”

Everything You Need To Know About Twitter You Learned From Your Grandmother -  Sure, it can help to utilize the growing number of Twitter tools available as well, but if your Twitter grade isn’t as high as you’d like it to be, you may want to take some tips from grandma.

I’m On Someone’s Media List -  THINKing has written about this before. Now, Rodger Johnson takes on the topic of PR people sending totally off-base pitches and news releases to bloggers and newspeople.

bookmark to:

Color Me Orange - It seems that every major - and minor - corporation adopts blue or red for their brand identity color scheme. These colors are not necessarily the best choices for your brand.

This Pork Brand Extension Is Spot On - Since ending his racing career, Junior Johnson has taken his carefully cultivated country boy, outlaw image and turned it into a brand that makes sense.

Building Brands One Touch At A Time - So much of what we do as marketers involves communication with digital media that we forget how powerful the human touch can be in building a brand.

Shallow Brands - Here is why, I believe, so many brands are like shallow people. They come on initially with charm, energy and charisma but pretty soon it is clear the suit is empty, and it really is all about them.

bookmark to:

Today, it panders to the lowest common denominator and doesn’t provide us with the balanced information we need to make informed decisions. It merely regurgitates the government position. And the media wonders why it is withering and dying.

Let’s take this example, and it is not an isolated one. USA Today covered the death of Michael Jackson like it was D-Day.  But didn’t even mention what may be one of the biggest goverment tax increases ever through the cap and trade bill.

According to the Business & Media Institute,

Jackson, who passed away June 25, dominated USA Today. Nine articles were devoted to Jackson on June 26 and 29. The June 26 front page blared: “MICHAEL King of Pop dies” over a photo of Jackson that took up much of the remainder of the page. The top of USA Today advertised: “Faces of Jackson: Keepsake posters, 8-9D.” Jackson also was the headline on June 29: “Inside Michael’s Last Show.”

Many newspapers reported on cap and trade but relegated their stories to pages so deep most people didn’t see them. I saw some highly opinionated articles that should have appeared as editorials, instead of masquerading as unbiased reportage.

If you have been reading THINKing for a while, you know that I believe the media has a decided liberal bias. Compared to the media of my youth, it now looks almost like the state-run media of fascist Germany. Do you think the media has disappeared? Agree or disagree with me, why don’t you?

bookmark to:

I drop the endorsed check and my NC driver’s license into the canister and shoot it through the pneumatic tube. Teller comes on and says “Mr. Hoover do you have a Wachovia account?” I tell her that I do not. She says that I will have to come inside the bank and present two forms of identification. “Are you kidding me?” I ask.

“No. We require non-customers to come inside since the drive-through is primarily a service for our customers.”

“Well, I’m guessing your customers wouldn’t want you hassling people they have written checks to. And I’m guessing you don’t want to convert me into a customer if you have that kind of last century policy.”

I left in a cloud of burning rubber, vowing never, ever to utilize a Wachovia - now Wells Fargo - service. I also vowed to tell everyone what I think of Wachovia and their failed policies.

Now, am I off the reservation here? Do you think this is a good policy? Come on, tell me what you think.

bookmark to:

Google Adwords can help, but it doesn’t drive the volume of web traffic most local businesses would like to see. If you have your own email list, superb. Nothing like email to drive current customer traffic. But what about for customer acquisition?

If you haven’t noticed, there is a fire sale going on at the old media store. Newspapers are struggling, so, too, are many radio and TV stations. Rates are down and so is competition for eyeballs. It’s a great time to increase your share of voice and take market share from weak competitors.

In my mind, a local business should be looking at these media opportunities. In particular, I’d look at my local newspaper, especially if it has a solid web presence. You can pick up packages that include both print and web options. For instance, according to the same MediaPost article:

The report further reveals that seven daily newspapers have achieved a net unduplicated reach of 80% or more when the past 30-day website visitor figure is combined with the past month print readership figure. Among these newspapers are the:

• New Orleans Times Picayune with a total unduplicated reach of 85.8%
• San Antonio Express-News (80.6%)
• Post-Standard in Syracuse (84%)
• Buffalo News (83.3%)
• Democrat & Chronicle in Rochester (80.9%)
• Peoria Journal Star (80.4%)
• Omaha World Herald (82.2%)

Says  Bob Jordan, President of The Media Audit,

“Daily newspapers were the first to embrace a multi-platform distribution strategy amidst a period when consumers were spending more and more time with the Internet. And as a result, newspapers followed the way of the consumer. By doing so, they have broadened their reach to include younger consumers. And these consumers are buying new cars and driving sales for retailers who represent a significant portion of the newspaper industry’s revenue… ”

bookmark to:

Facebook

Friendfeed

Think (our monthly enewsletter)

THINKing (RSS Feed)

Twitter

bookmark to:

Come to think of it, I don’t really want press releases. Send me a short email with your idea for THINKing. I’ll read it, I promise. And if it is on-target, I’ll do something with it. Same holds true for people wanting to do guest commentary for THINKing.

Any PR people - lazy or otherwise - with a different idea? Tell me.

bookmark to:

Email Ranks High In North America - According to Epsilon’s Global Consumer Email Study, conducted by ROI Research, the survey of over 4000 consumers in 13 countries finds that Email remains a mainstay communication, showing that 87% of North American(and 74% of European respondents are more likely than their peers in APAC to use email as their primary online communications tool.

Search Site Spezify.com Provides Eye-Popping Results - The visual search site Spezify.com launched Monday with the ability to retrieve tweets from Twitter.

Grand Jury Subpoenas Commenters’ Personal Info From Newspaper -Comments on a newspaper website about an upcoming tax evasion trial has prompted federal prosecutors to subpoena a newspaper for those commenters’ personal information. Very troubling.

Social Networking Sites Embrace Clinical Trials - Online social networking sites are assembling groups around particular disease types as a way of simulating interest in clinical trials and the data they’re collecting on members.

Social Media Is Increasingly Important Tool in Keeping Employees Engaged - Employers faced with reduced communication budgets and resources are turning to social media to keep their workforces engaged, according to a new survey.

bookmark to:

Prior to the rise of the Internet, marketers had a reasonable amount of time to respond to misinformation being spread about their brands. That was in the day of the daily newspaper. Instantaneous digital communication now makes it imperative that you be ever vigilant to online conversation about your brand.

You can’t afford to ignore it. Blake Cahaill, senior vice president at Visible Technologies, speaks to this today in a column for Marketing Daily.

Mounting pressure to be the first to break a story, and garner the highest click-throughs on salacious headlines - coupled with the rapid decline of resources allocated to ensure fair and objective reporting - have enabled inaccurate and biased information to flood the Web, often leaving a lasting effect on both businesses and personal identity. 

Complicating this picture is the flood of people joining social networks. Twitter has grown by leaps and bonds recently, according to Mashable. And as OMMA points out in a recent story,

Facebook’s seen its 35-54 demo membership blow up by 276.4 percent between June 2008 and January 2009. The 55-and over contingent grew 194.3 percent in the same amount of time. In comparison, that ever-so-sought 18-24 group bounced just 20.6 percent. The total number of Facebook users aged 35-plus in October 2007 totaled just fewer than 845,000, while as of this past January, their combined might totals just less than 8 million - 18.9 percent of the total Facebook pie.

Boomers, if we are not happy with a brand, will talk about it anytime online or offline. You need to protect your reputation. It is a bankable asset that must be kept safe. So, take Tammy’s advice, stand by your brand.

bookmark to:

Creativity & You

Shallow Brands

Remember, You Are Naked Online

Content Marketing On Steroids

Leadership 101

bookmark to: