Online Marketing Voodoo

Vista Just Can't Catch A Break

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:16:00 +0000

As we all know, Vista has had a rough life so far. From random bad press throughout the blogosphere to Apple poking fun at their middle-aged, nerdy personification, things haven't been easy.

As Matthew Creamer pointed out in his article on AdAge, Microsoft has put together a campaign to help dispel at least some of the bad buzz that it has befallen.

The campaign, dubbed The "Mojave Experiment" uses hidden cameras to document potential users' feedback as they test a new operating system called "Mojave". After trying, and being impressed by this new Operating System, they are told that what they have been testing is actually Windows Vista. The campaign focuses on their excitement about the new operating system and their change of heart as the rumors that they have heard are dispelled.

Overall, the videos themselves are rather compelling, but Matthew of AdAge doesn't really think so. However, it has to be questioned whether this is really an objective opinion, or just another online voice that sees the fun in kicking them while they're down.

The critique calls for various perspectives and more of a user's perspective. This goes against the goal of the campaign which is to focus on the customer. And with all of the recommended additions, it would be boring and unwatchable.

Another complaint is that it does not entertain. Who said that must always be the case? Here instead, the goal is to inform. The user will not likely be drawn to the campaign on entertainment value (Apple ads are there for that) but instead on curiosity. I have not viewed Microsoft's methods for drawing to this site, but they would be well positioned to dare their target's inquiring minds.

The videos themselves are rather compelling. The fact that the Operating System is not seen makes the viewer want to go out and take a look at it themselves. This campaign is obviously targeted toward someone who hasn't had a hands-on experience with Vista, and compels them to do so.

I don't expect it to be a huge hit. Microsoft knows that they cannot compete with Apple here. However, it's not a lousy effort. In fact, as Creamer points out the approach of customer reaction is quite similar to another campaign put together by Microsoft's Agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky "The Whopper Freakout", which also focused on customer reaction. What makes this of less value?

Ultimately, it will all come down to whether they will be able to draw the right crowd who has heard the wrong buzz to the site. I believe the videos are compelling enough to at least lay some doubt on their negative preconceptions, but time will tell.

Why not watch some videos and decide for yourself? Leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.

Enhance Customer Retention Digitally: Cross-Channel Communication Strategies

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:04:00 +0000

The Mack & Mark POV

Below you will find a synopsis of Doug White's breakout from the recent Frost & Sullivan Marketing World event held in Beaver Creek, Colorado.

Facilitator: Doug White, MindComet

Thought Leader Panelists included Mack & Mark:
Mack McKelvey, Senior Director of Marketing, XM Satellite Radio
Mark Mendelson, Head of Business Communications, LyondellBassell Industries

Key Take-Aways:
How to build and enhance customer relationships across channels including email, online communities, blogging and Web 2.0/social media
How to leverage and incorporate existing communication components and strategies into the digital mix - where and how to start
How to segment and develop relevant digital communications through relationship marketing

Moving People from Customers to Fans
Let’s first review the challenge...
Mack, “Speaking to the customer is difficult regardless of industry. Everyone has specific reasons for coming to XM - they want to be communicated to in relevant ways, in their language with appropriate mediums. We (marketers) don’t inherently know that data, we have to find it out. Our issue is moving people from customers to fans. First figure out who they (potential fans) are and make it so relevant that they don’t even know they are being communicated to. We are constantly in testing and modeling - we determine places to jump into the conversation.”
Mark, “I’ll speak to BtoB. We are industrial and so are our customers. We sell to large complex organizations. We have to get to segmentation by function. I started out in sales. The sales organization is the bedrock - as marketers we have to ask ourselves, ‘are we helping the sales team?’ The next step is understanding the manifestation - there is a vast array of people the sales organization can’t get to. If (marketing) can help sell, then we are helping. Email, web presence, etc. are designed to help the sales organization.”
Creating Rock Stars & Asset Management Significance
Determine creative ways to procure assets, from within the organization and through user channels. Then determine relevant places to repurpose and place those assets to deliver significant value back to the end user.
Mark, “Our C level is focused on press releases, interviews and how to create ‘rock stars’ - we do that. It is complicated and personal - everyone wants to be in the media, in releases and gain exposure. To allow our team to function efficiently we have to be able to repurpose - taking the interview and placing it in other places such as the website.

Start the Conversation & Get Out of the Way
Part of engaging target audience through social media is determining an effective way to start the conversation allowing the end users to then spread the word. It’s also important to establish monitoring and feedback strategies for these channels.
Mack, “We look at our subscribers (customers) and create an on-boarding experience based on the initial service transaction. Onboarding is incredibly complex - then we have to keep the customer, which is where it gets difficult. I have to remind the customer ‘why’ he/she should stay - we don’t actually have to do that. We are starting the conversation and then getting out of the way.”
Mack, “We market to 45 white males. We also have to manage to the influencers - children. We all have different needs - my daughter finds out what to listen to through her social networks. We try to encourage the conversation so we don’t have to do direct marketing to the tween audience.”
Mack, “You have to figure out ‘where’ the conversation is happening, even if you don’t do direct marketing through those channels - such as Facebook. You also need to have an overarching customer database to store all of the campaign data that will allow you to communicate effectively.”

The Face of the Customer
To play off of Keith Pigues keynote earlier in the day, Doug continues the stream of consciousness discussion.
Doug, “We (marketers) have to define the goals and customer values prior to developing customer lifetime messaging. We sometimes don’t have the luxury of taking a step back and creating a strategy for messaging - we tend to place communications ad hoc based on deadlines and timing. How are both of you tackling this challenge?
Mack, “Look at the face to your customers - for us its our ‘on-air’ talent. Our subscribers want to interact with them, not with marketing. The talent is having the direct communications. We provide the tools and allow our talent to have the conversations.

Managing Chaos
How are you managing Chaos?
Mark, “I’ve seen some spectacular CRM failures in the past. You also have to aware of new legislation - our email is handled out of Europe. There are mechanical issues. What we’ve tried to do is leverage company power centers - for us it is our sales directors. We tend to create small wins and then add on to that strategy.
“One of the biggest challenges in BtoB is employee churn - the databases become way obsolete. I’m for focusing on the customer data first. Every CRM program I’ve ever seen is an upside down pyramid - we ask the sales team to put all of this info in, so that the marketing team can use it. It should be a few people doing the work to support many.”

Don’t Message to Dead People
This is common sense, but the panelists feel there is more to it...
Mark, “Don’t message to dead people.” He went on to explain that they were actually doing this because the data in their system was stale and the challenge of keeping up with list hygiene and user preferences.
Doug, “Allow customers to manage their own data. They do it because the value that is reciprocated is important and visible.
Mack, “Poor customer experience leads to poor satisfaction scoring and retention falls suite.
Doug, “Ask your customers how they want to be messaged to.”
Mack, “We are creating a preference center housed online that will eventually migrate into our database. We are going to do some interim marketing and testing based on this.
Mack, “Whenever I got to stay at a hotel or purchase something, if they don’t have a review I won’t purchase. I’m a Marriott reward member - if there wasn’t an opportunity to have a dialogue. Risk v. reward - engaging customers that are most likely to review will be the people with the ‘best’ and ‘worst’ experiences.
Mark, “From a regulatory standpoint we struggle with the same questions. To balance - it’s a common challenge for customers to figure out how to use the product. “How do I use this thing” That’s generally the gap - the customer base needs to receive more information on your product. The future of BtoB is social media and community for dispersing this information. It is possible to create a community around ‘how do I use this thing’ - but you have to disassociate your company, which breaks the legal liability. This is a ‘tight-rope’”

My Final Thoughts
The way in which consumers find, digest and spread media has changed dramatically and will continue to do so as technology evolves - which also has influence on messaging and communication methods. In order to get in front of the right audience you have to figure out a way to get in front of key influencers and allow others to be referred/influenced as a result; therefore, 'finding' your brand/product/service/etc. There are a lot of different ways of seeding this initial piece including display ads, social media, conversation starters, reviews, etc. It is ignorant to think that people will find your product/video/etc. simply by making it available. It is essential to create a realistic budget for getting things kick started & driving traffic and not spending the entire fund allotment on the development of a widget/site/video/etc...

Is Google making a phone or not?

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:14:00 +0000

As you may or may not know, back in 2007 there were rumors that Google was coming out with a phone, called the Gphone. In November of 2007, Google put the rumors to rest. They announced that they were not making a Gphone. Everyone got the hint and put the rumor on the back of their minds, but this rumor is starting to surface again. On Sunday, July 13, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin and CEO Eric Schmidt were making statements about building it. So, only time will tell whether or not it will come out.
If and when the phone comes out, the iPhone will have a solid competitor because Google will use their software Android. Android is open to all phones but the iPhone is refusing to use it because they have their own software program.
Android is an open source which makes it easier for marketers to add applications. For example, a marketer creates a game and wants to put it on a phone. That marketer can download it on Android with their advertisement attached to it. While other phones it is harder to do so. When using Android, the applications are used more like a gadget. The consumer finds the application they want, downloads it then they go on with their life. The iPhone you have to go through a process, software has to bought to download then an approval from iPhone. There are also numerous reports saying that a number of iPhone applications are crashing. Android has a "no hassle" advantage over the iPhone. You can now download the Android SDK.

Facebook vs Myspace

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:14:00 +0000

Facebook is a fast growing social networking site that has its competitor, Myspace, sweating bullets. Myspace has been sitting comfortably on top of the world for years, when it comes to social networking. The other day News Corp.’s Myspace CEO Rupert Murdoch spoke out about Facebook’s recent success, “They’ve not monetized as well as us. They’ve done a great job of being the flavor of the month the last six months of last year.” “Flavor of the month?” In the past year, Facebook has grown a steady 89% with no sign of slowing down while Myspace has grown less than 10%. Myspace does acknowledge that Facebook is a credible competitor so Myspace has been making changes to their site. This week, they revamped their homepage with new advertising options and there will be more improvements to come.

Even though Myspace has more than double the amount of Facebook users, I think the changes that Myspace is making may be a little too late. Facebook took advantage of this slack and is on the fast train of being ahead. If Myspace wants to stay in their cozy number one spot, they will have to stay one step ahead of their competitor. I predict that Facebook will become the number one social networking site one day, soon. It seems that Facebook is making moves to be on top while Myspace is slow to do so. Time will tell!

Making Online Videos Easier To Watch

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:36:00 +0000

Time Warner Cable (TWC) is planning to bring online video to your TV sets an easier way. Apple’s Apple TV and other systems already offer the feature to download Internet content to a TV, but only the “enthusiast”, or their friends, has this hooked up. If you want this feature now, you have to purchase the equipment then set it up yourself. Even through it has been made easy, the average person does not want to go through the hassle of it. TWC plans to make a wireless cable modem where you just pay the cable bill and you’re off downloading online videos instantly. They predict that this could become popular in the next year or two.

What does this mean to marketers? Does it open a door to a new market? I think so. Companies could use this in a sense of viral marketing, through websites such as youtube.com and other video online sites. Create a video that is funny and advertising the company, then download it on youtube.com and let it circle through the Internet. If it is as funny as your favorite youtube video (My New Haircut or Unforgivable for example), then you’ll hear your target market and other people repeating the lines from it. “Jagerbombs” “Go get me a chicken sandwich and some waffle fries…fo free” It would save the company money because downloading videos online is free on most video websites. Verses having the video on a TV network that cost money for a time slot.

Make it easy to find a Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Thu, 29 May 2008 21:00:00 +0000

Today I have been searching different websites to join their newsletters, but theres a problem with some of these sites. It is taking longer than I predicted. I have been searching and browsing all throughout the whole websites just to find a way to sign up for a newsletter. I have been going through about eight diffrent sites and should only take me roughly 10 mintues. There are some sites that make it simple, fast and effective, because they have a link at the top right of the page that says, "Sign up for our Newsletter". Our website has done this very well.

These websites are all marketing sites. At first, I thought this was terrible marketing, but after I thought about it - is it genius marketing? Think about it, I am searching through the whole website and I find myself reading some of the articles and learning about the different companies...

GoDaddy, Go! : Super Bowl Ad Teamed with Online Strategy Make a Run for ROI Touchdown

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 18:44:00 +0000

The big game is over but the advertising showdown has just begun. Despite the fact that the return on advertising during Super Bowl is difficult to measure, companies paid an estimated $2.7 million per 30-second spot on the theory that viewers pay as much attention to the commercials as they do to end zone antics. With over 90 million viewers tuned in and 37 brands competing, whose ads will translate into ROI? My bet is on GoDaddy.

GoDaddy.com scored big with Two million hits to the site on Super Bowl Sunday. "Up by a factor of 3.5 times compared to normal," reported GoDaddy founder and CEO Bob Parsons. What did they do right? Maintaining its risque' advertising style, the ads made a clear call to action. After Fox rejected GoDaddy's ad "Exposure," they instead created an ad that told Super Bowl viewers how to see "Exposure" online. Only 6% of companies included a call to action in their commercial, reported Reprise Media, Inc. in its Search Marketing Scorecard (Jan 2008).

In addition, GoDaddy ran full speed in optimizing their online exposure. ComScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, conducted a pre-game survey that revealed 75% of respondents planned to go online on game day. GoDaddy took action and maximized awareness by using search engines, sending out press releases about rejected ads, adding interactive features on the website and later posting blogs and distributing the ads to a wider Internet audience through YouTube, and other social media outlets. "Marketers that overlook search and social media are potentially missing out on a huge opportunity to engage with interested consumers during the game," said Peter Hershberg of Reprise Media.

Advertisers have learned that the Super Bowl is more than a one-shot deal. If the ads drive Web traffic, then it gives a longer return on investment than short-term sales. "For us, because we're an internet company and we sell domain names, there's no way we can really explain what we do in a commercial. We had to get people to our website," said Parsons. Among GoDaddy, other advertisers who connected their ads with online strategies include Pepsi, Cars.com, T-Mobile, Tide and CareerBuilder.

GoDaddy set foot in the Super Bowl arena in 2005 with no previous experience in advertising and paid nearly 5 million for two spots that dared to poke fun of the previous year's half time "wardrobe malfunction" that sparked a crackdown on broadcast indecency. The humor didn't go over well finishing 28 out of 55 ranked in USA Today's Ad Meter, however, the commercial grew its industry market share from 16 percent to 25 percent. The following year, the market share rose to 32 percent and 2007's Super Bowl commercial helped GoDaddy boost to its current 42 percent mark (Cheap Web Hosting Directory, Jan 2008). I look forward to seeing the 2008 results.

Incorporating UGC and Bottom Up Content Strategy into Your Thought Leadership Marketing Programs - Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:15:00 +0000

The first question Doug White asked to the panel of social media experts that initiated a lengthy discussion was, “What was your Ah-ha moment when you realized that your brand needed to have a social media strategy/presence?”

Lee Aase (Mayo Clinic) mentioned that the Mayo Clinic was already providing syndicated content for broadcast and 60 second radio segments. He went on to say, “A light bulb went on with web video and podcasting... you can let users access the content directly and let them find exactly what they want.” It also helped that the brand has built its reputation primarily by word of mouth over the last 100+ years.

Rick Short (Indium) took a more philosophical top-line route with his response, “We all naturally generate content. We like to talk and type about things; it costs practically nothing to produce content - blog software, cell phone, digital camera.” He realized four years ago that, “this tidal wave was coming at me...”

Kevin Hoffberg (Decision Street) was in the middle of writing a book on customer service in 2001 and saw the UGC-developed PowerPoint deck defaming the Doubletree hotel brand. “It got really interesting when the CEO of Hilton saw it and had to start over with customer service training.” He went on to say that consumers are afraid of making ‘wrong’ decisions and that people are desperate to be connected to professional expertise. He left the group with another question, “How do people judge credibility online? We rely on both pure conversations and brand messaging.”

Chris Curtin (Disney) has the fortunate experience to be tied to a brand that’s been around for 5 decades and is an incredibly viral brand naturally. He mentioned that, “every mechanism associated with UGC is well underway without proactive involvement from the brand,” and moved on to another point, “the better question is how do we interact with it [UGC]?”

Kevin threw out a question to the attendees of the session asking if anyone has been burned by their involvement with UGC and social media.

Mike Murphy (EarthLink) was quick to respond, “[EarthLink] had to pull back from leveraging UGC. The most enthusiastic customers generally are the participants. We were hoping to have customers help each other resolve issues. There aren’t a lot of enthusiastic customers about internet service providers, because it is a utility. We had concern about negative user feedback, so we didn’t see it as a benefit to the brand.”

Leisa Glispy (Armstrong) had a great point about the difference between UGC utilization for products v. services, “It’s rare to have a user rave about service, unless it’s truly exceptional. In the case of products, you can change or fix [the product] based on the user feedback.”

White changed the direction by asking about how to overcome obstacles with teaching your internal team or executive board about the importance of UGC tactics.

Lee, “When I signed up for Facebook and found out I already had 11,000 members in my Mayo Clinic network - that was my real Ah-ha; why not trust people to publicly communicate? It can help improve the reach of your brand when you trust that your people are doing the right thing.”

Barb Murphy (Weyforth-Haas), “It’s been easier to introduce the customer insight piece as a point of entry to help broaden the vision; for BtoB customers you have to start with the business decision and then translate the leadership team to understand the customer perception.”

Kevin went on to say, “From an objective standpoint, it’s not hard based on stats. At the end of the day, we are all anecdotal thinkers and influenced by stories. Show them [your executive team] the Facebook page or take them somewhere to see it first hand.” He also mentioned it is a good idea to leverage personal experiences to craft your story.

Leisa had a couple of additional food for thought points, “The technology will make it a part of daily life; authenticity is one of the biggest game changers.” She also brought up an interesting idea of syndication across multiple community sites, relating it to the disconnect that can sometimes happen between your identity on Facebook v. LinkedIn v. MySpace, etc.

Best Practices/Take Aways

Lee, “Join the Frost group on Facebook as part of your homework from this event.”

Kevin - “Get Flock, the uber cool social media web browser, layered on the Firefox backend.” (As a side note, I’ve been using this browser since it launched - I highly recommend it to anyone reading this).

Chris, “Make sure you fully understand your brand. Don’t chase trends. Figure out what your [brand] voice should be and bring it to all spaces.”

Rick, “Begin at the end. Don’t jump it because it’s the topic of the day - begin with your goal.”

Incorporating UGC and Bottom Up Content Strategy into Your Thought Leadership Marketing Programs

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:50:00 +0000

My colleague, Doug White, recently hosted a panel at Frost & Sullivan's Executive MindXChange in Phoenix. The prestigious, UGC experts leading the conversation included:

Kevin Hoffberg of Decision Street, Kevin's blog
Lee Aase of Mayo Clinic, Lee's Blog
Christopher Curtin of The Walt Disney Company
Richard Short of Indium Corporation, Rick's blog

To establish the context for the very engaging conversation that ensued, the following stats were shared:

Technorati tracks 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media. – Technorati website 11/15/2007

175,000 new blogs created each day. - That’s over 2 new blogs per second created each day! . – Technorati website 11/15/2007

Bloggers update their blogs regularly to the tune of over 1.6 million posts per day, or over 18 updates a second. . – Technorati website 11/15/2007

61% of Internet searchers think that SEO listings are more relevant – iProspect

As of December 18, 2007 There were estimated to be over 200 million MySpace profiles - Wikipedia

At peak, MySpace had over 230,000 new registrations added each day - Wikipedia

25% of users reported online video as one of the top 3 activities performed online – Forrester 2006

Broadband Content and Services 2007, six out of ten high speed Internet users watch/download online video content at least once a week compared to 45% in 2006 - Center for Media Research – 01.09.2008

Penetration of video-enabled handheld (portable) devices is on the rise as is viewing of video content on these devices. 27% of Internet users have a cell, iPod/MP3 player, or PDA with video capability, and an additional 23% do not have this capability but are interested in getting it. - Oct. 2007 - Horowitz Associates Report

Stay tuned for Part 2, summarizing the panel discussion.

Top Tips for Creating Hot Podcasts

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 14:59:00 +0000

In a recent meeting of the minds Paul Dunay, Director of Global Field Marketing for Bearing Point discloses the top 11 tips for podcasting. The following are the pointers I found most valuable.

1. Make sure to do a killer intro for your podcast.
2. Always remember that the primary goal of the podcast, to establish yourself and your organization as a thought leader.
3. Make good use of audience feedback and apply it to make improvements.
4. Remember trust is key when developing a relationship with your audience.
5. Elaborate on the content of your podcast with supporting materials on your website.
6. Absolutely NO selling in podcasts.
7. Be thought provoking and proactive.
8. Keep podcasts conversational and engaging.

Dunay concluded with the idea that "If you're going to commit to doing podcasts, then keep that commitment and don't give up. Keep them going." Wise words that will help you maintain credibility.

"Twitter Strikes Community Chord" But for What?

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 22:20:00 +0000

A recent article in BtoB magazine discusses the uses that twenty-somethings are now leveraging the tool for. It points out that twitter is another inexpensive channel marketers can tap into and the growing popularity for peers giving each other 'tweets' on their day to day lives.

After it's debut earlier this year at South by Southwest, marketers had high hopes for the new medium but the article cites one of the few instances of value the tool has been used for since then, as the first channel used to spread word of a bay area earthquake. While it may be striking a chord with small circles of friends I think we're still a ways away from creating a full blown community around Twitter and reaching its full potential in making it a viable communication tool.

Online Marketing '08: Techniques of the Future

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:27:00 +0000

According to a recently published piece from the Center for Media Research here are the top five prediction trends of online advertising for 2008 (in no particular order).

1. Taking database marketing to the next level - We've managed to wrap our heads around the do's and don'ts of keeping a clean database, now its time we really leverage the information gathered and deliver on the promise of a true 1:1 marketing experience

2. UGC no longer labeled inappropriate for most brands - revered for being super affordable, marketers are now exploring ways to incorporate UGC in a more brand-safe way while still reaching precise target audiences.

3. Local advertising - no seriously, local at its finest. Local users on national sites will be shown ads for local businesses relevant to their interests in turn creating more applicable results for the user and more affordable options for advertisers on sites that were normally out of their budget.

4. Metrics galore - whether your justifying a spend to your boss or trying to decide your future media budget, check metrics beyond just clicks to help decipher how to best influence your customer and appeal to their emotions to coax them through the sales funnel.

5. Virtual worlds - expected to become more populated as people begin to focus on specialty worlds associated with their personal interests. Can you say effortless precision targeting?

Mobile Advertising: Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 16:00:00 +0000

To elaborate on a previous post discussing the growth trends of the use of mobile internet and specifically the advertising trends and opportunities I found another article of interest.

According to the Center for Media Research 2008 will be the year we see mobile solutions focused on local advertisers. Sooner than you think, you will be able to search for a local restaurant without being flooded with national advertisements. Dilip DaSilva, founder and CEO of Exponential, uses the term "vertical local" or "hyper local" to describe the level of granularity that will become the norm for mobile marketers.

As local users are shown display ads of local businesses relevant to their interests, local CPC (cost per click) will evolve to be a major factor in 2008. Proponents of the new model argue this will be a huge opportunity for smaller and medium sized businesses to advertise on site that they normally wouldn't have been able to take advantage of in the past.

Mobile: Ad Channel of the Future

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:38:00 +0000

It seems that with the advent and ever growing popularity of the iPhone, wireless phone providers are scrambling to keep pace with consumer's new found interest in mobile internet.

According to recent research released by The Kelsey Group 44.7% of US mobile users say mobile phones with better internet capabilities will be a key factor in their next phone purchase decision. This is large in part due to the convenience of using maps and performing local searches. The Study notes, in the past 6 months 9.8% of respondents had used their mobile phones to conduct internet searches of products and services in their local area.

Growth for mobile search advertising are expected to grow from $33.2 million this year to $14. billion over the course of the next 5 years - though many are skeptical of the predicted 112% annual growth rate. However according to BPL Mobile executives, mobile advertising with its ability for high "reach and relevance" is rapidly attracting ad dollars.

Top Social Networking and Blog Sites for 2007

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 14:49:00 +0000

Nielson has released the top 10 social networking sites and blogs for the end of 2007. MySpace's network has expanded by 19% since 2006, while Blogger's popularity grew by 58%.

Top 10 Social Networking Sites
1. Myspace.com
2. Facebook
3. Classmates Online
4. Windows Live Spaces
5. AOL Hometown
6. LinkedIn
7. AOL People Connection
8. Reunion.com
9. Club Penguin
10. Buzznet.com

Top 10 Blogs
1. Blogger
2. WordPress.com
3. Six Apart TypePad
4. tmz.com
5. LiveJournal
6. Xanga.com
7. Thatsfit
8. Gizmodo
9. Autoblog
10. StyleDash

SmileSpotlight.com

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:58:00 +0000

Watching TV over my long Thanksgiving weekend, I came across a commercial for Crest directing me to smilespotlight.com. When I got back to work on Monday, not only did I recall the commercial but I remembered the catchy URL, so I decided to take a peak. The theme of this campaign is "Get the confidence you need to smile like a star." Ryan Secrest is the poster child for this campaign while make up artist to the stars, Joanna Schlip gives personal tips on how to maintain that star-ish smile with their new products.

As you navigate through the site, you can view the 3 final contestants and vote on which "spotlight contestant" you want to see on stage at the People's Choice Awards, by the way, voting ends November 30. Not only does the grand prize winner get to go on stage, but they get to fly 5 friends out to L.A., stay in a 5 star hotel, $1,000 shopping spree, celebrity makeover, limo ride to the PCA, attend an exclusive after party and meet Ryan Secrest. Seems like a bit much for white teeth! While this phase of the campaign obviously has enough play, I only wish I had caught wind of it earlier to have a chance to enter to win. Well executed campaign, just wondering why I am now hearing about it with only 3 days left to vote?

Black Friday Sales Available NOW!

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 21:25:00 +0000

Want to beat and avoid the never ending sea of people at the malls on Black Friday but still get your shopping in? Almost all department stores are are starting their sales earlier than Friday, the catch is you have to take advantage of them online. I know sometimes it can be hard to shop for personal items like clothes and shoes online but I would definitely take advantage of all electronic sales online. Here are 5 tips to getting the best bargains online for Black Friday:

1. Compare Prices
2. Price Matching
3. Online Coupons and Free Shipping Deals
4. Saving on Gift Buying
5. Show up with coupon in hand

Gone are the days you have to wait an hour for a parking spot and fight for that last sea salt bath set for your mother-in-law. I think it speaks volumes for the evolution of the web that we can now start our shopping online on Thanksgiving Eve!

Pay Per Click on the decline

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:47:00 +0000

Pay Per Click is a tool that caught on quick and grew rapidly but has continued to increase at a decreasing level. What is contributing to the lag? I came across a podcast where Steve Rubel, SVP of Edelman's me2revolution, gave his input on the 5 reasons for Pay Per Clicks recession:

1. Unnecessary clutter around ads
2. Focus on traffic opposed to navigation on site
3. Rising costs (about 33% each month)
4. Sponsorship
5. Trustworthiness

Will this be a trend that dies out or will every advertiser use this technique to increase sales? If this is a trend that will be universally adopted, an action prospective opposed to a traffic perspective needs to be the key focus. With great keywords lists, tracking, management, strong campaigns and landing page testing.

Snickers Feast

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 19:16:00 +0000

You have probably seen the Snickers commercial where the Pilgrim goes in to the gas station to buy a Snickers bar and comes out and says to the Viking "Hey guys, they are out of Snickers." The Viking reacts by yelling "NO" and throwing the garbage can on to a parked car. The Pilgrim then replies "But, I got these Snickers dark bars with dark chocolate instead" and the Viking yells "YEAH" and continues to throw another garbage can at the same car.

It seems funny at first but it is kind of random. If you visit Snickers.com it will all make sense. The commercial comes from a series of shots from different days of their "Embark on a feast-worthy adventure" capturing day 69 of their trip. A Viking, Pilgrim, noble King, Greek and Polynesian figures are in a car on a road trip to who knows where, eating Snickers. I have to say it is very comical, but I would have liked to see the commercials on TV starting with day 1 and continuing through to the end. Or is there an end?

Snickers' approach is effective online, but if they would have taken the approach with their commercials, watchers could have bonded with the brand and been excited to see where their next stop on this "feast-worthy adventure" would end up. This online campaign could have been more effective if Snickers included some interaction with their consumers and had a contest of what the next commercial or conflict between characters would be. Incentives could include free candy or airing their brilliant ideas.

Will the Internet Replace TV?

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:12:00 +0000

Studies released by the Nielsen Company reported that television tuning remained the same from last year to this year at 8 hours and 14 minutes per day while DVRs count in households more than doubled. Even though viewing time of TV remains the same, about 16% pf US internet households watch their TV broadcasts online. News content use to be the number one most widely viewed online content but this year TV related material won first place.

By 2011, there will be 200 million broadband Internet users and 91% will engage in viewing online videos. The type of content that is watched by US online households in descending order is:

1. Entire episodes/Shows
2. News
3. Entertainment
4. Catch up on missed content
5. Previews
6. Content from favorite shows
7. Sports

Are They Tracking You?

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 17:26:00 +0000

Do consumers really care about their online privacy? When asked, of course they answer "yes," but do they truly understand what this violation is used for and how it affects their experience when browsing the internet? This issue seems to be ahead of the consumer outcry but not for long because privacy advocates are bringing this matter to the attention of consumers due to the lack of awareness and knowledge.

The FTC will hold a 2 day workshop that will inform all whom attend on the severity of this issue. The focus of this workshop will be on behavioral targeting, which is a tactic where ad sellers segment consumers in to categories based on their search criteria over many websites. For example, when someone does a search for vacation destinations, this person may be tagged as such and flashed an ad for Expedia's "Cheap air fare" when reading his/her daily horoscope.

When consumers finally understand how tracking and behavioral targeting are "invading" their privacy this issue will either blow up or blow over. That is when it will be decided if it is a positive maneuver that is fundamental for creating quality digital content or if it is purely an unacceptable invasion of privacy.

Commercial Sequels

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 14:02:00 +0000

While the practice of continuing your campaigns with a part two to your commercial isn't uncommon, I did see something that was new to me watching TV the other day. It was the Chevy Malibu commercial touting itself as 'the car that can't be ignored'. The first commercial was funny enough featuring a girl out for her daily jog. As she crosses the street she runs straight into and bounces off a rather generic looking car parked on the side of the road. Even the sound effects alone were humorous enough but it still would have been a very easily forgotten ad.

The thing that struck me was that two commercials later (yes I'm one of the few who still watch those) there was a part two the the first one. You see the same girl recuperating in a daze from her first run in with the car and peeling herself off the pavement. As soon as she's back up she does the same thing again, this time going torso first over the hood of the car. It concludes with her standing up once more and walking off in the opposite direction perplexed. Sophomoric as it may be, I though it was pretty funny.

Part two commercials are nothing new but in the past have been done after the first has run for a few months. I had never seen one done in such tight sequence as that. And again while the first alone was rather forgettable seeing the sequel made the message stick with me a bit longer.

So my question would be, is that what were coming to? Are we at the point where we have to double our efforts and time we spend in front of our audience. More importantly, how can this tactic of duplicate messaging be applied to the online space?

Online recommendations for Music Industry

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:12:00 +0000

The music industry might be suffering at the retail level, but that isn't the case online. An AOL service, AIM Tunes, is allowing users to listen in on buddies tunes. iLike, a music recommendation site is bring in over 13 million users since its launch in October 2006. These new programs could have a positive influence in increasing retail sales amongst various artists in the music industry.

"Clearly, radio is losing its influence," says Phil Leigh, an analyst at Inside Digital Media. "This is replacing it as a way to discover new music, because we tend to appreciate what our friends appreciate. If a friend recommends something, we'll pay more attention." Finding alternative ways to influence the music community is brilliant. Social media is huge at this point in time and taking advantage of viral marketing through this channel could change the view of this negative relationship with previewing buddies tunes online and illegal downloading.

Get your Complimentary Tea Leaf Reading

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 20:21:00 +0000

As I was enjoying my regular glass of TAZO green tea this morning, I happened to look under the cap to find "Visit tazo.com for your complimentary teal leaf reading." Excited about this new online campaign, I checked it out immediately. A first name, middle name, and astronomical sign is required, and as you hit the "read my leaves" button, the oracle moves around the a full cup of tea that quickly becomes empty (like you are drinking it) on a saucer that has leftover tea grinds on the bottom. After the oracle reads your leaves, the translator interprets the message. The effects are really interesting and the label under the cap got me to visit the site, which of course was their goal. But when my leaves read "The sock you lost is behind the washer", I was a little disappointed.

TAZO could have used this opportunity to promote a new flavor, give away some free tea or just simply read off my daily horoscope. Anything would have been more entertaining than the let down I was greeted with. But I have to give it to TAZO for at least getting me to their website. Next time however, I may not be so easily coerced.

Welcome Messages are Successful

noreply@blogger.com (MindComet) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:12:00 +0000

There is an art to making any Welcome Email successful. Many retailers are picking up on this skill and have seen tremendously positive results with their subscribers. When welcome emails set the tone of the program, it leaves the recipient anxious for the next message.The Email Experience Council and the Direct Marketing Association released the results of their Retail Welcome Email study and results have surprisingly increased in the right direction.

Here are some important areas to show extra attention to when executing a Welcome Email:

-Delivery time of the welcome message (normally within 3-10 minutes of signup)
-Make sure to include a link to your site or catalog information
-Include reply contact informaiton
-If possible, include a discount, reward or incentive for your recipient
-Ask the subscriber to white list you by adding your address to their address book
-Include your brand name in the subject lines