I haven't written on this blog in a while not because I lost interest but because I was a little bit unsettled that no one is even reading this blog. How hard does it seem to have your blog noticed? Then I started thinking about how everything seems to have a certain protocol or path to it. If you go into McDonald's and order one cheeseburger, the young kid behind the cash register will look at you alarmingly and say - what about fries and a drink with that?
Everything in America seems to have something attached to it. I was reading an interesting article about Turbo Tax yesterday and how it was compared to an H&R Block tax professional to see which method would produce the higher tax return for the user. Turns out that whether you use Turbo Tax or an H&R Block (real person) your return didn't vary too much, less than a $10 difference.
Isn't that crazy? If there's one way technology has changed us it's that everything has been compartmentalized - there's no peaks and valleys anymore (or if there are - they are very hard to find). America has become flat in a cultural way through technology. What do you think?
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Google VIDEO ads coming soon
I was doing a Google search yesterday when something struck me on the page (or maybe it was there all along and I just was immune to it). Within one of the search results was a link to a YouTube video about my topic as well as a widget that allowed me to either collapse or expand the video in order to watch it directly on the search results page (very slick - so slick that I watched it).Ah-ha very interesting I thought... Interesting from a lot of different angles, but the one angle that I want to write about is the online advertising one.
What does this mean for online advertising? It appears that Google is only using the videos in an experimental mode. So a search is pulling a direct feed from the YouTube search and then pulling videos associated to that like the one in my picture (to the right). But, what if Google has a separate YouTube database for online advertising videos? For example, let's say you search saving accounts and in the results ING Direct has a paid listing plus a a video on their new 3.4% savings account offer. Ah-ha! could we call this an internet commercial?
It could be a whole new source of online marketing revenue for Google. My thinking then turned to how would Google charge for this type of advertising - would they keep a traditional PPC model or change the structure. I could see a cost structure th at has database storage, viewing amount and PPC on the video type fees. The ROI to the advertiser would be that your video commercial would be targeted (obviously based on search), but also you could find out the effectiveness of your video by how long it was viewed.
All this is speculation - of course (unless someone in blogger-world knows something that I don't). But this comes at an unusually good time right now because more companies are trying to target segmented products and product brands (example: bottled water). Paid search can only do so much and online display ads are good but conveying a brand messages in a banner ad is so out dated if you have video.
Let me know your thoughts out there - in blogger-world!
Monday, March 3, 2008
Catering to the niche through online media
One of the longest running online display ad campaigns is for W Hotels a brand extension of Starwood. The campaign has been going on for the past three years a mammoth amount of time in the online advertising world. With just a few clicks you can see their banner ad placements everywhere from Yahoo Fantasy Sports to the New York Times online edition. The primary audience is the niche consumer and trying to understand a user group of that size and magnitude isn't that simple. The people that stay at W Hotels see themselves as hip, stylish and cool - isn't that just about everyone? So instead of a targeted direction, Starwood went for endurance and has definitely established the brand. So much so that other companies like Marriott are taking notice.
Playing catch-up
Robin Uler, Marriott's senior vice-president for Marketing says - we are behind And now, after watching the rise of Starwood's W hotels, Marriott is deciding whether to launch his own "designer" chain.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Made for tv movie
Who is going to be the first one to create the Roger Clemens (HGH / Steroids) made for tv movie?
It's only a matter of time before someone puts this whole media circus on tv. Will it be ABC, NBC, CBS or maybe HBO? I'm not really concerned who will play Clemens, his wife or any of the other characters in this drama. I am more interested in when the movie is coming.
It seems like there is an incubation period before media releases something to the public. With 9/11 is took 2 years (plus there was the ban by the government on any and all images associated to 9/11), but the normal incubation period for a story like this seems to be in the neighborhood of a year or two after the initial event.
What is the criteria behind this? The public has to digest the real story first, next the story itself has to be brought to resolution and then mainstream media has to deem merit behind it. The Roger story hasn't even come close to ending yet and the public has a lot more information to digest. So it looks like I'll have to wait a more than two years before the release of this made for tv movie.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The fantastic 4 pitfalls of brand management
I was thinking a lot about brand management today and where it's going. One of the reasons why companies like Nike and Coke stay with an agency is because they do a successful job with brand management.
For the cheap seats...
(Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line, or brand. It seeks to increase the product's perceived value to the customer and thereby increase brand franchise and brand equity).
But, brand management is not the easiest thing to do. A recurring challenge is to build a consistent brand while keeping its message fresh and relevant. An older brand identity may be misaligned to a redefined target market.
Plus...
Brand identities may also lose resonance with their target market through demographic evolution. Repositioning a brand (sometimes called re-branding), may cost some brand equity, and can confuse the target market, but ideally, a brand can be repositioned easily in today's media - which is the main reason why many large companies have been turning to the online media with so much frequency. Within that space are the interactive agencies ready to re-focus the brand.
Okay - I'm off my lecture box and I'm leaving you with the:
The four Pitfalls of Brand Management:
For the cheap seats...
(Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line, or brand. It seeks to increase the product's perceived value to the customer and thereby increase brand franchise and brand equity).
But, brand management is not the easiest thing to do. A recurring challenge is to build a consistent brand while keeping its message fresh and relevant. An older brand identity may be misaligned to a redefined target market.
Plus...
Brand identities may also lose resonance with their target market through demographic evolution. Repositioning a brand (sometimes called re-branding), may cost some brand equity, and can confuse the target market, but ideally, a brand can be repositioned easily in today's media - which is the main reason why many large companies have been turning to the online media with so much frequency. Within that space are the interactive agencies ready to re-focus the brand.
Okay - I'm off my lecture box and I'm leaving you with the:
The four Pitfalls of Brand Management:
- Too may media channels to control
- Inconsistent or unclear message
- Speed to reach the desired audience
- Not knowing the desire audience
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
What happened to my MTV?
At social events the subject of MTV comes up every so often and people joke about - what happened to the music videos? It is true, if you watch MTV for an hour or so you'll be hard pressed to find a music video. What happened to the music videos (MTV's core programming)? The music videos are gone replaced by snippets and a variety of shows. More importantly their audience doesn't care. Even MTV's TRL (Total Request Live) doesn't play any full length music videos anymore.
Why the change? My guess is that MEDIA and the consumer has changed - sort of why I decided to make this my first post.
MTV's consumer has changed so dramatically over the last 10 years that MTV no longer resembles what they were in 1999. Music videos don't sell products (end of story). When was the last time that a music video touted AMP, Crocs or Axe Body Spray? The Real World (one of MTV's shows) is a much better vehicle for MTV's sponsors to put product placements in front of consumers. The Real World cast of characters drink, wear and use products just like the consumers that MTV is trying to market to.
There's another reason why music videos don't bode well for marketing. Many of them are too short. A typical music video is four minutes in length, but the attention span of the MTV consumer is a lot less than that. Research shows one minute or less is the typical attention span especially if it is an artist or song that the consumer doesn't particularly care for. So the bandwidth for advertising is extremely short = ing the result no music videos.
No fault to MTV on any of this. MTV simply changed it's core television structure to fit their consumers and I'm sure they already have plans to change it again seeing that consumers are absorbing music in a variety of different channels.
Thoughts????
Why the change? My guess is that MEDIA and the consumer has changed - sort of why I decided to make this my first post.
MTV's consumer has changed so dramatically over the last 10 years that MTV no longer resembles what they were in 1999. Music videos don't sell products (end of story). When was the last time that a music video touted AMP, Crocs or Axe Body Spray? The Real World (one of MTV's shows) is a much better vehicle for MTV's sponsors to put product placements in front of consumers. The Real World cast of characters drink, wear and use products just like the consumers that MTV is trying to market to.
There's another reason why music videos don't bode well for marketing. Many of them are too short. A typical music video is four minutes in length, but the attention span of the MTV consumer is a lot less than that. Research shows one minute or less is the typical attention span especially if it is an artist or song that the consumer doesn't particularly care for. So the bandwidth for advertising is extremely short = ing the result no music videos.
No fault to MTV on any of this. MTV simply changed it's core television structure to fit their consumers and I'm sure they already have plans to change it again seeing that consumers are absorbing music in a variety of different channels.
Thoughts????
Welcome and enjoy the show...
"Welcome my friends to the show that never ends, we are so happy you can attend... come inside, come inside."
Hi everyone - thanks for taking a peek at my blog, if I'm able to grab your attention with a few comments every other day then I've accomplished my goal. What I hope you gain from this blog is a sense of where MEDIA is going and how it's changing. Over my career I've seen a lot of ideas, thoughts and creativity when it comes to the media and I plan on sharing it all - along with some fun on the way. I'm sure I'll deviate once and a while from the topic, but for the most part I hope to stay on track.
Cheers
Hi everyone - thanks for taking a peek at my blog, if I'm able to grab your attention with a few comments every other day then I've accomplished my goal. What I hope you gain from this blog is a sense of where MEDIA is going and how it's changing. Over my career I've seen a lot of ideas, thoughts and creativity when it comes to the media and I plan on sharing it all - along with some fun on the way. I'm sure I'll deviate once and a while from the topic, but for the most part I hope to stay on track.
Cheers
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