LonelyLab15 - All Together Now
The holiday video from the IPG Emerging Media Lab is a nice confectionery entertainment.
From the dept. of Opinion Worth Reading, we dutifully present:
MediaPost Publications - Fitch Applauds Re-Integration, Warns Of Disintermediation - 12/20/2006:
"INFLUENTIAL CREDIT RATING SERVICE FITCH Wednesday issued a report indicating that Madison Avenues' biggest players face some considerable challenges - the erosion of the traditional TV advertising marketplace, the continuing fragmentation of media and a corresponding consolidation of media services, a shift from traditional advertising to 'below-the-line' marketing services, the reintegration of creative and media services, and the threat of 'disintermediation' from advertisers dealing directly with online services - but are generally better positioned than the rest of the media industry to weather some big changes in the years ahead."
Click the headline to read the whole piece.
Jay-Z, Jimmy Kimmel & Second Life. What Was the Point?: "All hype, zero return. This is not how a company should approach something like Second Life. They didn’t even go for any buzz since the announcement of the event only came out late yesterday afternoon."
NBC to host "jam session" in Second Life tonight | News.blog | CNET News.com: "Adding to the growing trend of popular musicians putting on virtual performances in the virtual world Second Life (Jay-Z, after all, did an in-game simulcast of his performance on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live'), NBC Universal has announced the first concert in its recently-unveiled virtual headquarters."
Moving Through Matter with Buckaroo Banzai: "When Buckaroo Banzai travels through matter he discovers a parallel world in the eighth dimension that is inhabited by bizarre creatures called Lectroids. The world of the Lectroids opens new vistas to stimulate filmgoers' interests. Take, for example, the evolution of Lectroids and their organically grown spaceships on the tenth planet of the solar system, or their passion for electrical discharges. "
Digital billboards spark outdoor-ad revival - U.S. Business - MSNBC.com: "Digital billboards, which resemble ballpark jumbo video displays but scroll through several static ads each minute, are helping to draw advertisers back to the outdoor medium as one of the world's oldest forms of marketing undergoes a renaissance.
The computer-controlled LED displays allow advertisers to change their message as often as they'd like, unlike their vinyl predecessors,"
Dove To Use Real Women To Create Real Ads, MindShare Continues Placing Media - 12/15/2006: "The packaged good giant today will kick off a consumer-generated advertising contest for its Dove Cream Oil Body Wash brand, inviting its consumers to create their own 30-second spots. The winning ad will break on the 79th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 25, 2007. Grey's Anatomy star Sara Ramirez joins Dove to help kick-off the contest and encourage women to submit their entries at www.dovecreamoil.com."
Advertising Age - Digital - Finding and Harnessing Online Brand Advocates: "Of about 144 million internet adults, about 13.5 million purchased a vehicle in the last six months. About 5.1 million of those were advocates who, on average, talked to about 20 people each about the purchase, for a total of 105 million people. About 8.3 million of those car buyers were nonadvocates, who talked to eight people about the purchase, for a total of 69 million people who heard about it.
The research pinned some digital traits on these influencers: They conduct about 25% more online searches, they have wider online social circles, are 119% more likely to use instant messenger and 40% more likely to use podcasts. And about half have written about their purchases online.
"
Saatchi Gallery - Stuart - Report - New York Times:
(registration required)
"The brainchild of the London-based advertising magnate and collector Charles Saatchi, this social networking outlet — a kind of MySpace knockoff for artists — is causing something of a sensation, boosting traffic at the gallery’s Web site overall to more than three million hits a day.
In May Mr. Saatchi, famed for spotting young unknowns and turning them into art-world superstars, created a section on his Web site for artists of all ages to post their work at no charge. It is called Your Gallery, and now boasts contributions by about 20,700 artists, including 2,000 pieces of video art."
eMarketer.com - Online Video Becomes a Real Business: "According to 'The Video Store Goes Virtual: The Global Outlook for Online Video Sales' report from Strategy Analytics, yes, online sales of television shows, movies and other prerecorded video products will become a billion-dollar business — next year.
Although video-download sales made through iTunes and other online sources will total just $298 million this year, Strategy Analytics predicts that by the end of 2007 the online video market will grow to $1.5 billion."
More shoppers online; sales hit $670 million in record day - USATODAY.com: "ComScore says last Wednesday was likely the biggest online shopping day of the year and, with nearly $670 million in sales, topped last year's No. 1 day by over $100 million. In fact, sales on 12 days this year have surpassed $600 million.
Last year's single biggest day for Web sales was Dec. 11, when consumers spent $556 million online."
Three quarters of Web users on broadband - Tech News & Reviews - MSNBC.com: "More than three-quarters of residential Web users got on the Internet using a high-speed broadband connection in November, according to a study released Tuesday."
iVillage Launches Girls' Nights out in Second Life · MarketingVOX: "As part of a national TV, outdoor and online branding campaign, women's portal iVillage has launched a presence in virtual world Second Life - but unlike many other in-world campaigns, the strategy driving the NBC-owned site's is based on the actual dynamics of the community.
On December 14 and every two weeks thereafter, a local resident will curate a 'girls' night out' inside Second Life, with a group of avatars that will congregate at the iVillage loft on Sheep Island, developed by ElectricArtists, writes ClickZ.
"
Techcrunch » Blog Archive » Omniture Announces Marketing 2.0 Analytics Tool: "Omniture is an online marketing analytics company. Genesis is a measurement, performance, and integration tool. Integration being the key buzzword of the event. In this case, integration refers to the ability to understand how various online campaigns perform both together and separate, and making marketing purchases accordingly.
Are marketers not doing that? Forrester analyst Char VanBoskirk presented data showing that they don’t. Instead, she said that most marketers subscribe to the more-is-more theory.
“Users know how to filter out messages with spam filters and pop-up blockers. So how are most marketers responding to this challenge? They just send more messages,” VanBoskirk said."
Calling "Bull$#@!" on 3 Marketing Strategies
Ask.com's Sean X Cummings writes a rather challenging tome about that latest wave of emerging media/platforms trends.
"Those times breed a whole new slew of verticals specializing in the emerging field-- email, SEM and the word-of-mouth nexus of viral, buzz and social networks are all moving us forward ... The problem is that the technical understanding and emergence of those verticals does not make people marketers, nor does it give them an understanding of branding or how to properly research, drive consumer insights and fundamentally shift consumer perceptions."
The Other Slingbox - HAVA from Snappy Multimedia: "Stream video content from any video source to multiple PCs in your home or business, totally wirelessly (no wires or Ethernet Adapters required), or through your Ethernet. View TV content in full screen DVD quality. View TV content remotely on an Internet connected PC. Control all the functions of the video source, such as a TV or TiVo, from your PC. Moreover, HAVA functions as a Personal Video Recorder and allows you to Store, Pause, Fast Forward, Rewind, Record and burn your video."
Survey: Mobile entertainment services fall flat
"A new report from IDC concludes that the mobile entertainment services offered by cell phone service providers aren’t proving to be particularly popular with U.S. consumers. The report, entitled U.S. Wireless Teen and Adult Consumer Entertainment Survey, 3Q06: Age, Device Type, and ARPU Segmentation, finds that almost three-quarters of respondents didn’t use any data services for their phones beyond messaging."
City Dunks Cookie-Scented Ad Campaign - AOL News: "Some critics expressed concern over potential allergic reactions. Others complained the ads could be offensive to the poor and homeless who can't afford to buy sweet treats.
Scented oils were sandwiched between cardboard cards emblazoned with 'Got Milk?' and affixed to shelter walls, in hopes that the smell of just-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies would spark cravings for milk. The promotion was launched at five San Francisco bus shelters at a cost of about $30 per shelter."
Background from Reuters here.
During the test, anyone in Norway who volunteers will be able to access NRK's two television stations and five of its radio channels with their normal mobile phones, using existing mobile phone infrastructure and a Java application."
Mobiqa - Home: "Mobiqa are the world leaders in mobile ticketing and mobile coupon solutions based on the creation, delivery and redemption of barcodes to mobile phones."
MediaPost Publications - P&G Fits E-mails To Customer Needs - 12/05/2006: "Different brands often require different strategies. Some brands warrant weekly emails to customers, others do better when aggregated into a monthly newsletter, according to Denis McGrath, interactive marketing manager at Procter & Gamble.
Speaking at MediaPost's Email Insider Summit, McGrath says P&G adjusts frequency of its marketing e-mails for the company's vast array of brands. Customers simply aren't interested in seeing information about batteries or toilet paper in their in-boxes all that often.
Diapers, on the other hand, are intensely fascinating to new parents. 'We've found expectant mothers are like sponges,' he says. 'They're collecting information on everything.'"
qode.com
Mobile marketing software that lets you take a cameraphone picture of a special bar-like code and receive information (including multimedia) directly to your mobile phone.
Wendy's - The Bureau for Better Value
More spawn of the Shave Everywhere rich media "viral" Web site trend. If you haven't seen The Pants Whisperer, you should do so now. The topic at hand is the new value menu site for Wendy's, the QSR also ran that never says quit.
eMarketer.com - Youth Market Favors Facebook: "'For the first time ever, Facebook was ranked number one among both men and women,' said Josh Weil of Youth Trends. 'Based on the findings, Facebook is more than likely to be their first visit of the day.'"
What's Next for MySpace: "Last summer, media mogul Rupert Murdoch, 75, threw himself headlong into the Internet. The CEO of media empire News Corp. (NWS) made a series of high-profile acquisitions, most notably the $580 million purchase of Internet sensation MySpace (see BusinessWeek.com, 7/19/05, 'News Corp.'s Place in MySpace')."
The Enquirer - Marketing takes many forms: "While television commercials still make up about 66 percent of all advertising spending, and Internet advertising accounts for only about 2 percent, online advertisements are gaining popularity. Internet ad spending totaled $4 billion during the third quarter this year, up 33 percent from the previous year, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
The world's biggest advertiser, Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co., is among those making the transition with its $6.8 billion annual advertising budget. P&G is putting Crest toothpaste ads on napkins and bathroom doors in bars and is putting video ads on mobile telephones for Herbal Essences shampoo.
And P&G's Folgers coffee has started www.toleratemornings.com, producing a video that quickly was posted on YouTube and allowed consumers to send wake-up messages to each other. It's a far cry from the demonstration-heavy commercials P&G has been running for decades.
"
Video Visionaries Meld Traditional TV and the Web - washingtonpost.com: "It's a nontraditional approach to broadcast television that's been growing in popularity in recent months: broadcasting shows on both the Internet and traditional TV to give advertisers as many viewers as possible. At the same time, the blurred line between traditional and online video is accommodating a growing variety of viewers: those who prefer to watch on a TV, those who gravitate more toward the Web and even those who like to watch on their mobile phones or TiVo recorders."
Techcrunch » Gifttagging Widget Helps You Get Gifts You Actually Want: "Gifttagging has a new widget that installs two icons in the toolbar. One lets you tag any page, sending the link directly to your wishlist. The other sends you to your Gifttagging home page. Both are available for Firefox and IE."
Advertising Age - Digital - P&G, Others Build Mobile-Marketing Budgets: "Procter & Gamble, Microsoft Corp. and other major marketers have set aside a piece of their ad budgets -- albeit a small piece -- for mobile marketing, representing a 'significant shift' for the emerging medium."
Viva la Old School!
Advertising Age - Marketers' Websites Outdraw Those of Major Media Players: "Believe it or not, those boring corporate websites are pulling in more eyeballs -- and more influencers -- than the flashy prime time TV shows, print magazines and general interest sites on which marketers advertise. And part of what's driving the traffic is old-fashioned web display advertising and e-mail pushes. "
Also ...
"The combined monthly traffic of unique visitors to the P&G and Unilever websites is more than 9 million, according to ComScore Media Metrix."
Your cell phone as your wallet: still waiting - Dec. 1, 2006: "As it turns out, mobile phone operators are the ones holding up a new era of wireless money transfers in the United States. The reason: They haven't found a business model they like. Negotiations between carriers and consumer banks have recently stalled over when - and how much - users must pay when they buy double-shot lattes via their cell phones."
The future of Web ads is in Britain | CNET News.com [reprinted from the New York Times]: "Online advertising is racing ahead in Britain, growing at a roughly 40 percent annual rate, and is expected to account for as much as 14 percent of overall ad spending this year, according to media buying agencies. That is the highest level in the world, and more than double the percentage in the United States."
The big Digg rig | CNET News.com: "Dubious Internet marketers are planting stories, paying people to promote items and otherwise trying to manipulate rankings on Digg and other so-called social media sites like Reddit and Delicious."
AtomFilms: Short films, animation, Web shows, music videos & more
One of the original sites for "viral" video on the Net, AtomFilms just launched a complete redesign that now lets anyone upload videos. Cable net Comedy Central runs its own channel. Most videos are long(er) form than (i.e. 3:00 and longer) what's normally on YouTube and the new(er) generation of video sites.
MediaPost Publications - Yahoo Pilots Social Sites For Brands - 12/01/2006: "AIMING TO COMPETE WITH CORPORATE pages on MySpace and YouTube, Yahoo is rolling out a series of sites dedicated to brands and products with devoted consumer bases.
These 'brand universes' on Yahoo will allow fans to find product information and connect with each other within destinations that incorporate Yahoo's range of social media properties including photo-sharing site Flickr and Yahoo Answers.
Rather than being paid upfront by marketers, Yahoo is building the sites at its own expense in hopes of attracting relevant advertisers willing to pay premium CPM rates for association with brands favored by 13- to-34-year-olds. 'The big win comes from other advertisers that will come to these environments over time,' said Vince Broady, head of entertainment, games and youth at Yahoo.
The first of the 100 brand universe sites to be launched over the next year--for Nintendo's Wii gaming system--drew 250,000 visitors during the first 24 hours, according to Broady."
KY Warmupdate.com
The next time somebody asks me about an interactive "choose your path" story site, remind me to show them this ...
'Cyber Monday' Confounds Researchers, but Hey, Sales are Good: "Research firm comScore Networks pegged e-commerce spending on Cyber Monday at $608 million, a 26 percent hike over last year.
'It's the highest spending day ever recorded online,' comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni told ClickZ. 'That said, we fully expect during the week of December 12 that the record will be eclipsed.'
By comparison, comScore found online retail spending on Black Friday reached $434 million, a 42 percent increase over last year's sales. To date, total online retail excluding travel for the first 27 days in November comes to $9.48 billion, which accounts for a 24 percent increase over corresponding days in 2005.
Yet online still accounts for a relatively small chunk of holiday sales. 'The online channel this season will represent about 7 percent of everything consumers spend,' said Fulgoni. 'Offline is far bigger, but it's not growing anywhere near the rate of the online channel.'"
Online sales jumped 26 percent to a record on Cyber Monday - Nov. 29, 2006: "Total online purchases on Cyber Monday, one of the biggest shopping days for e-tailers, jumped 26 percent to a record $608 million, according to the latest numbers from ComScore Networks.
'It [was] the highest single day in retail e-commerce history and the first day ever to break the $600 million threshold,' Gian Fulgoni, chairman of comScore Networks, said in a statement."
Save the Pants!
| If this video doesn't just sum up a typical day in the world of stains on my clothes...I'm not sure what does! It's hilarious, check out the very end...here's to SAVING THE PANTS one leg at a time! | |
The Latest from Brightcove
Brightcove has developed a Flash-based player that delivers exceptionally clean and clear video quality. This blog entry lets you play a music video by Diddy (featuring Christina Aguilera) at both standard and full-screen sizes. Flash 9 is required, which is easy and automatic. But it does require a browser restart.
It Had To Happen Eventually
Well, well, well. The "shave everywhere guy" gave at least one condom maker the cajones to go for a bigger, er, bang. (Dear Lord, forgive me.)
Durex presents The Pants Whisperer
http://www.thepantswhisperer.com/
MenWithCramps.com
P&G has launched a Web-centric "viral" campaign for ThermaCare HeatWraps, a line extension for women's menstrual cramps. The ironic twist is the creative is faux-DTC pharma style microsites for the fictional affliction "cyclical non-uterine dysmenorrhea."
The ruse has many fronts, including the fictional MacInnes and Porritt "research and treatment center for men."
A video was posted on YouTube on Oct 17, 2006. So it's almost six weeks old. There are 22K views.
Wal-Mart Plans to Test Online Films - New York Times: "Wal-Mart, the country’s largest seller of movies, announced that next year it will begin testing a video download service on its Web site. Wal-Mart did not reveal its partners, but media executives involved in the deal said that all the major studios are either on board or in active talks with the retailer, and that Hewlett-Packard is providing the technology for the download site."
78 Percent of Consumers to Shop Online for Holiday Gifts: "The survey showed that 50 percent of consumers plan to do one-fourth of their holiday shopping online, while 23 percent said that they will do more than half of their holiday shopping online. Only 16 percent said that more than 70 percent of their holiday shopping would take place online. Thirty-nine percent of consumers plan to spend up to $100 in online holiday purchases, 23 percent plan to spend $400 or more, 22 percent plan to spend $100-$200, and 16 percent plan to spend $200-$400. When asked to select one or more timeframes in which they planned to shop, 43 percent of consumers said they will conduct their online holiday shopping between 9 p.m. and midnight. Fifty-six percent of consumers said they will buy from large, established online stores, even if the prices are higher than at smaller, lesser-known e-tailers"
Now playing on TiVo: Targeted ads | Tech News on ZDNet: "Given the choice, would you watch commercials?
TiVo, maker of the popular digital video recorder (DVR), announced a new 'program placement' feature on Tuesday that offers customers the option to watch a product commercial or a promotion for another show after viewing a recorded program.
Each time TiVo customers view a recorded program, the new menu options will appear alongside the delete or save options. Those new options will include a brand logo or question asking if the viewer would like to watch promotional content, which can run up to two minutes."
MercuryNews.com | 11/29/2006 | BitTorrent cuts online video deals: "BitTorrent users will be able to purchase or rent movies such as ``Mission Impossible III'' and buy TV shows such as ``24'' when the company's service launches in February."
You Oughta Be In Webcasts: "Welcome to the new wave of Web video. Far from the land of dogs on skateboards and Webcam yakkers on YouTube (GOOG ), this online genre of scripted programs is attracting small but passionate groups of fans. The networks and talent agencies are watching closely, and the phenomenon is giving indie filmmakers new ways to get their works seen. At the same time, this emerging ecosystem is creating a tempting--albeit challenging--play for advertisers looking to cut through the chaotic mass of Web pages on YouTube and MySpace."
iBloks. Mix.Share.Play!
(Note to self: Why does every new "Web 2.0" site launch in "BETA"?) Anyhoo ... Here's a new-ish site that offers a user-friendly, beginners-can-do-this-easily online app that assembles photos, videos and music files into self-made movies called "iBloks." It's free, so we'll all have to see if and/or when there's a revenue model for this Webware.
Cyber Monday, Marketing Myth: "Contrary to what the recent blitz of media coverage implies, Cyber Monday isn't nearly the biggest online shopping or spending day of the year. It ranks only as the 12th-biggest day historically, according to market researcher comScore Networks. It's not even the first big day of the season.
For most online retailers, the bigger spending day of the season to date was way back on Nov. 22, three days before Black Friday. What's more, most e-tailers say the season's top spending day comes much later, between around Dec. 5 and Dec. 15. "
Record Sales, Traffic For Cyber Monday
The Wall Street Journal (Registration/Subscription Required)
"Cyber Monday" turned in record numbers after all. Maybe people bought into the hype (and the Web-wide holiday sales). Or maybe yesterday's strong sales simply indicate a healthy year ahead for online shopping.
ComScore Networks, which tracks Web traffic, expects Cyber Monday's online sales to hit around $600 million this year, a 24% jump over last year. Meanwhile, comScore said more people eschewed long lines at malls on Black Friday, spending $434 million online, a 42% increase from last year. Overall, consumers have spent $8.31 billion in nontravel purchases on the Web since Nov. 1, the firm said, up 23% from 2005.
Advertisers will note that increased sales have corresponded with higher overall traffic to retail sites. Akamai Technologies, a large Web traffic management firm, reported a 19% hike over last year in the traffic it sent to online commerce sites versus past Cyber Mondays. Shopping.com, an eBay subsidiary, said it was sending 40% more traffic to its retail partners than in past years.
Offline sales, of course, still far surpass that of the online world. "Black Friday" alone generated nearly $9 million in sales, while Saturday added another $5.6 billion to the weekend haul for retailers
FORTUNE: First Virtual Millionaire in Second Life: "Anshe Chung, a real-estate tycoon in the digitally simulated world known as Second Life, has apparently become the first virtual millionaire--i.e., someone whose holdings in a make-believe world are legally convertible into genuine U.S. currency worth more than $1 million"
eMarketer.com - TV Downloads on the Rise: "All the alarmist claims that digital video recorders (DVRs), video-on-demand (VOD) and emerging online platforms will cause the death of TV and result in the loss of billions of dollars worth of advertising dollars are just plain wrong."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
