Pew Study - Teen Girls Lead Online Growth
"I know that people who are really into computers, that can take them apart and put them back together, are boys," Mount said. "But more girls are instant messaging and doing more social stuff."
A study of 1,100 boys and girls ages 12 to 17 and their parents released this week from the Pew Internet & American Life Project reports that teenage girls are driving growth in online communication and information-seeking.
"There's this sort of myth that it's only boys that are the tech-savvy members of the teenage cohort," said Amanda Lenhart, senior research specialist for the Pew Internet Project, which explores the impact of the Internet on society. "In fact, girls are very intense users of the technology, particularly the communications tools."
According to the study, teenage girls are more likely than boys or older adults to coordinate interaction with friends over the Internet, search for information about prospective schools, seek health and religious information and visit entertainment related-Web sites.
Link to Madison State Journal article here
Business Week online article with lots of facts here
Google News list of links to 376 articles on this subject
Foq ... It's Coq Roq
http://www.coqroq.com
CPB's latest integrated marketing schtick for BK is a heavy metal band. They're kind of like Gwar; only instead of sci-fi monster costumes, this band dresses in chicken masks and "sings" about BK Chicken Fries.
The site design is great. You get free MP3s. Videos and a message board for fans, too.
One important note: Band member bios include absolutely truthful accounts of how the musicians sold themselves outright to BK corporate execs for blatantly selfish, monetary gains. Filthy lucre indeed.
Of course, there's controversy over the name. (Maybe I'm gettin' on ... but the name's tasteless.)
Ad Age story here -- http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=45644
Promo Magazine - Next Tech
Cool Tools for Marketing - and How You, Too, Can Find Them
Link - http://promomagazine.com/mag/marketing_nexttech/
Excellent overview from promotions trade mag. Includes descriptions and examples of Podcasting, Blogging, Text Messaging, Responsive P-O-P, TiVo Coupons, Retail TV and New Twists/Old Tech. Plus quotes from my old friend Bill Carmody, former colleague Geoff Miller and Frankel creative honcho Bill Rosen, for whom I've worked as a contractor.
If You're Not a Techie, Don't Read This...
c/o ClickZ
http://www.clickz.com/experts/ad/lead_edge/article.php/3522256
Short for "asynchronous JavaScript and XML," AJAX is basically the engine that drives such sites as Google Maps and Google Suggest, sites that load content behind the scenes as a user interacts with the page. This eliminates the click-and-wait aspect of Web surfing so many of us have become used to.
Viral + Buzz Marketing and Word Of Mouth Marketing
Links to new associations in emerging media
Viral + Buzz Marketing Associations - http://www.vbna.net
Word of Mouth Marketing Association - http://www.womma.org
More Info on ARGs - Alternate Reality Games
c/o ClickZ
"Many of these efforts were inspired by Electronic Arts' reality-bending game "Majestic," which blended computer game play with prerecorded Webcams, phone messages, and other sinister-seeming "intrusions" into gamers' real-world lives. "Majestic" was killed after September 11, for fear players would mistake the game for what was going on in the real world. Since then, efforts such as I Love Bees, a promotion for "Halo 2," and ABC's "Alias game have continued the idea that reality and fantasy can be seamlessly blended together using the Internet."
Link to I Love Bees for Microsoft
The Rise of ARGs - Alternate Reality Games
Connecting Online + Offline Experiences
c/o Gamasutra
In the last four years, alternate reality games (ARGs) have emerged as one of the most promising new gaming genres, fueled by a number of high profile games including "The Beast" (a promotion for the movie A.I.), Majestic, "Push Nevada" and most recently, "I Love Bees". These ARGs have immersed millions of players in complex and involving "alternate reality" storylines that takes place not only on the Internet, but through every conceivable media including phone calls, newspapers, radio, television, movies, and real life actors. With the notable exception of EA's Majestic, all major ARGs to date have been promotions for other products.
Seeing In 3G: Content Developers Look Ahead to New Mobile Model
from Boards Magazine
Good intro to what 3G is to begin with ... It's the new(er) network standard for cell phones that allows for "broadband" services via your mobile phone such as video, music and multi-player gaming. "Third Generation" ... get it?
Links
- Tricycle NYC http://www.tricyclenyc.com
- Pax Athletica Created by Tricycle NYC
- The Viral Factory http://www.theviralfactory.com
- M-Qube http://www.m-qube.com
- Reaxion http://www.reaxion.com
If I hear one more agency person say mobile phone marketing isn't "mainstream" ... I'll ... I'll ... I'll ...
Link to article on AdAge.com
"Along with McDonald’s, marketers including Masterfoods, Timex, Coca-Cola Co., Heineken and Johnson & Johnson are readying promotions that encompass everything from mobile games to ring-tone giveaways and text-in trivia contests and sweepstakes."
"An executive with one prominent package-goods firm acknowledged that mobile marketing is becoming more mainstream, but said brands are having trouble finding the resources to help them in the mobile space. “Brands want to go to the agencies and the agencies should be out there. They’re not, because they don’t see the scale.”
Laser Labeling on Fruit ... and ... ???
c/o the New York Times
At first glance, you'll cry "What's next!?!?" With people selling their own foreheads on eBay ... I mean, really! Then I started to think that maybe the "mass media" of the future will be in public spaces ... especially as electronic media migrate to databased platforms; particularly television, which is becoming more and more "one-to-one" before our very eyes.
Sign of the Apocalypse ... um ... I mean the mainstreamization of mobile phone photo taking and sharing
A major sponsor of the upcoming Dukes of Hazzard movie, Kodak has launched a promotion offering a free DOH movie ticket when you sign up for a 30-day free trial of its Kodak Mobile service.
PC Magazine Reviews iTunes 4.9 with Podcasts
c/o PC Magazine
This review (positive, of course) addresses mainstream Windows PC users; not Mac loyalists or early-adopter techies. It elevates my point that once something desireable such as Podcasting is made easy (once it's not complicated to use, that is), it takes off ... big time ... among young and middle-aged, male and female consumers. Complexity is the enemy of the mainstream.
Verizon "Richer, Broader, Deeper" Broadband Integrated Campaign
Link to microsite for details
There are two promotional programs running now. The first lets you see your profile on Verizon's Times Square interactive billboard. The second is "Ultimate Sports Fan" with SI.com/SI magazine. Both require you to write your story/submit your profile.
MP3 Cell Phones not likely to be iPod Killers c/o Wired News Service
"[E]ven as cell phones are increasingly tricked out with MP3 players, television and games, analysts said it's unlikely people will rush to replace their iPods with music-playing cell phones. 'We don't see this as a displacement any more than digital cameras were displaced by camera phones,' said Michael Gartenberg, research director with Jupiter Research."
Faster, faster: Broadband internet access via TV cables can reach 100 megabits per second as early as next year...
... 50 times faster than the average broadband speeds now offered to cable TV homes, a Finnish firm said Wednesday. Similar data-transmission speeds are possible over fiber networks, but these cost much more for the operators to build.
"This is a cost-efficient technology as we use the cable TV networks which are already in place," said Jukka Rinnevaara, chief executive of Teleste, a small-cap Finnish broadband equipment maker. Teleste, whose rivals include big U.S. firms Scientific Atlanta (SFA) and Cisco Systems (CSCO), plans to begin selling its Ethernet to the Home product early next year. It will give consumers access to 100-megabit speed, the company said. (Wired.com report with content via AP and Reuters)
Theaters Try Cell Phone Marketing
Business 2.0's wireless guru Matt Maier passes along some info about an interesting marketing experiment Twentieth Century Fox and Loews Theaters are testing in New York, LA, and San Francisco. The theaters have wireless kiosks in the lobby where movie fans can download movie trailers, voicetones and wallpaper for their cell phones via Bluetooth. The downloads are free, and include choice lines and images from Fox movies, including phone pics of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. In return for the free downloads, Fox and Loews hope to get free viral marketing. Not a bad idea. Unless you come out of the movie and decide that you cannot stand Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
Kodak launches Mobile Photo Service
During the previews at Willy Wonka yesterday I watched a Dukes of Hazzard mini-feature sponsored by Kodak Mobile service. Obviously, Kodak is banking on mainstream adoption of picture taking and sharing via mobile phones and/or connected devices (such as Palm LifeDrive, Sony PSP or T-Mobile SideKick; sorry, your iPod ain't got wireless ... yet).
Tivo needs ads, it would seem.
c/o David Jones
An interesting article in the Washington Post about opt-in advertising on Tivo, being covered by a few ad pubs (like AdRants).
- Further supports my thesis that, in the future, all marketing will be Database Marketing ...
- Is this a harbinger of advertising's end? Not likely ...
- Moreover, it's the death of direct marketing as we know it ...
- TV spots on Tivo are much like DRTV spots are now ... only better ... less effort to respond ...
- Smarter results b/c Tivo can "learn" the subscriber's preferences and even (eventually) make recommendations (sort of like Amazon.com on steroids)
- However, the crush of database management for tens of millions of subscribers is potentially crippling to Tivo ... so it'll take time ...
On Demand TV Advertising Test in Philly
In Philadelphia marketers are sampling what may be the future of user-initiated TV advertising. There, 745,000 digital cable subscribers can learn more about products by volunteering to view long-form ads on Comcast from General Motors, Reebok and Wachovia. And surprise, surprise: Viewers are tuning in, according to a new on- demand tracker.
Tricking out cell phones is 'in' thing
Vanessa E. Jones
Boston Globe
Jun. 28, 2005 02:30 PM
Forget all the talk about customizing cars. Now people yearning to put their personal amp on things are tricking out their cellphones. And savvy users know that doesn't mean just adding ringtones.
These days customers can upload graphics to use as screensavers that cover the front screens of their phones, or as wallpaper that decorates the rear screens. They can download games that will get them through boring stretches. They can install LED keypads that glow red, blue, or green. Or they can change the outsides of their cellies' housing, covering their phones with shimmering crystals or adding faceplates in a rainbow of colors.
People from teens to seniors are looking for ways to make their phones reflect their ever-changing personalities.
Games Women Play ... in the Digital Age
This one's for mobile phones from Jamdat ... it's called Bejeweled; and it's just a simple puzzle game. Click the "play" icon to see a demo. Jamdat offers official versions of Boggle, Yahtzee and Tetris; plus Solitaire and various "time waster" games that are raging in popularity among women (especially those 40+).
Making Your Cell Phone Go "Bling!"
http://www.myblingring.com/
Here is the motherlode of personal customization for women -- young and old. The "official" Bling it Yourself kit featuring Genuine Swarovski crystals for your cellphone, Sidekick, iPod, Blackberry and anything else you want to bling! It's "celebrity approved"!
Cellphone Ringtones Dial Into Pop Culture
from USA Today
Eyewitnesses to the London Attacks use Cell Phone Video + Cameras to Document this Tragedy
c/o The BBC News
... "As video mobiles grow more popular in Europe, they are letting people capture the first scenes of chaos before TV."
... "Blogs, photo sharing websites, online news sites, and TV news used their images in the minutes and hours immediately following the attacks."
... "Websites and moblogs have also started to appear with images of support for those affected by the blasts.
One such moblog, We Are Not Afraid, features dozens of images of people, many from the US, holding up messages reading "We are not afraid".
Such images have also been appearing Flickr, which quickly became an easily searchable depository for images of the events."
New Life for UHF ... on your Cell Phone
c/o Business 2.0
... This summer, cell-phone giant Nokia (NOK) and chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM) are launching multimillion-dollar trials aimed at bringing TV to cell phones over UHF -- home to channels 14 through 83 in the rabbit-ears days before cable. ...
Video Floor Graphics - Ambient Media
c/o Business 2.0
McDonald's last week placed interactive systems from Reactrix on three tables at its new 50th-anniversary mega-restaurant in Chicago. "We can shape the experience into anything McDonald's wants to do, from designing Happy Meal promotions and interactive games to reinforcing healthy food messages," [says a McD's spokeswonk]. Sam Goody's is on board at the Mall of America. More...
What's the Buzz, Tell (Us) What's a Happenin'
Another obscure boomer-era pop culture reference, sorry
Check this out. It's a top 20 listing of searches conducted on Yahoo! every day. This'll give you a sense of what's on people's minds.
AOL Takes Streaming Video to Next Level
Live 8 coverage on AOL far, far better than MTV's "babblefest"
c/o Yahoo! News via The Associated Press
This article opens with a comparison between Victoria's Secret's notoriously flawed Webcast of six years ago with the truly flawless AOL coverage of Live 8. "AOL ... managed to make the experience compelling, said one fan, Maria Miceli, a Westlake, Ohio, office manager who switched off the MTV coverage because she felt it focused too much on its hosts and too little on the actual music."
"Overall, AOL said it had 5 million unique viewers on Saturday, some of whom watched multiple streams."
"The ability to give control to users — not a television director — is what gives the Internet an edge over television and radio, said James Bankoff, AOL's executive vice president for programming and products." (A typically wonky pull quote, eh?)
As Ever ... Don't (Always) Believe the Hype
from USA Today
While 70 percent of US households purchase recorded music at least every month, only 53 percent of those surveyed own a portable CD player. And only 6 percent reported using a digital music player such as an iPod.
"People are experimenting with new audio technologies, such as online music services, digital satellite radio and multichannel audio formats, but they still rely on CDs and FM radio as primary sources of music, IDC reported."
If so ... why did 5 million people "tune in" to Live 8 via AOL while only 2.9 million watched on ABC? Hmm?
Not So Minor League Baseball
From USA Today + Yahoo! News
When the minor league's Kansas City T-Bones meet the Schaumburg Flyers, they'll take the field at the top of the third inning. How's that? The initial two innings are to be played "live" on the home team's mega-screens by two fans playing an EA Sports baseball video game on an X-Box. Whatever the score at the end of two innings between the two fans, the "real" teams will take the field and pick up the game from there. Nice one!
