Friday
Salon's Ad sponsored micro subscription model
Anyone who reads this column knows most online advertising models of yesteryear failed to live up to their hype. Furthermore, most sites' expectations that online advertising dollars would keep them alive were frustrated as many quietly went belly up.
For Salon.com the reality of providing free content in exchange for running banner ads on its site ended up as a battle of life and death. The site chose life.
Salon faced a problem. For years it had offered news and information content to a wide range of users. It went public and had hundreds of thousands of visitors to its site daily. In many ways, this was a dream business. The only thing missing was a viable revenue model.
For Patrick Hurley, Salon's senior VP of business operations, the reality became clear as ads sales fell off. As Hurley put it, "It started to look like the definition of insanity... doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." The reality for Salon was ad sales were drying up across the market. It was time to either make a change to the business model or go home.
On April 25, 2001, Salon launched its Salon Premium service. Some content previously accessible to all site visitors would now be available only to subscribers.
A hue and cry issued forth. Some patrons penned letters criticizing the action as "going against the very principle of a free press!" (Perhaps they were unclear as to what our Founding Fathers had in mind.) And plenty of industry critics said the subscriber number would never be large enough to make alienating the entire visitor base worthwhile.
For some visitors, the value of a subscription wasn't in line with the amount of time they spent at the site. They opted out, claiming they could find the same information for free at other sites. Others cried foul that what they had grown to rely on now came with a price tag, but they stuck around anyway.
For Salon, it was a gamble that paid off big time. In fact, the number of visitors who subscribed to the news service in the first day totally turned the company around. It seemed then, as it does now, Salon was providing a service that was worth supporting.
Fast-forward two years. Salon now boasts a subscriber base of just under 70,000 members. It has created an advertising model that appeals to both visitors and advertisers. This hasn't happened without a lot of work over the last two years.
At the end of 2002, Salon unveiled its Day Pass program. This allows any visitor who wants access to the entire site to first watch an online ad. Doing so gives a viewer 18 hours of access following the ad view. The viewer can go through the same process any day he wants access.
According to Hurley, the response from visitors has been positive and hasn't generated the vitriol accompanying many current online ad campaigns. As with traditional television advertising, most viewers seem to understand the model of getting something of value in exchange for a small portion of their time and attention.
Advertisers also have shown support for the approach by coming back for more. According to Hurley, early results from some of the campaigns have included double-digit CTRs and a 2 to 3 percent response rate. Not bad for a campaign that collected e-mail addresses.
Hurley says Salon owes much of its recent success in the new advertising model to Dana Jones of Ultramercial, who helped the company develop an ad format that met the needs of advertisers without "assaulting" users.
According to Jones, the "station break" advertising approach just makes sense. Unlike pop-up ad purveyors, Jones said Ultramercial is continuously getting "love letters" from viewers who appreciate the respectful way the advertising is designed. Couple that with the results advertisers are getting, and you have the start of a success story.
Jones said the composite average time the ads are being viewed (with no ad designed to last more than 30 seconds) is 52 seconds. This model, which provides viewers with engaging messages, would seem to work far better than those that use forced messages or can be easily circumvented.
Ultramercial, which 10 months ago had Salon as its only client, has recently signed IGN Entertainment, Emode.com, TheStreet.com, and iVillage. All are now using Ultramercials on their sites.
Time will tell if this advertising approach is what the online advertising market needs. For Salon and Ultramercial it has already made a difference in how they operate. As pop-ups and other invasive ad types are phased out, the new gatekeeper ads may just be the next successful format in online advertising.
Anyone who reads this column knows most online advertising models of yesteryear failed to live up to their hype. Furthermore, most sites' expectations that online advertising dollars would keep them alive were frustrated as many quietly went belly up.
For Salon.com the reality of providing free content in exchange for running banner ads on its site ended up as a battle of life and death. The site chose life.
Salon faced a problem. For years it had offered news and information content to a wide range of users. It went public and had hundreds of thousands of visitors to its site daily. In many ways, this was a dream business. The only thing missing was a viable revenue model.
For Patrick Hurley, Salon's senior VP of business operations, the reality became clear as ads sales fell off. As Hurley put it, "It started to look like the definition of insanity... doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." The reality for Salon was ad sales were drying up across the market. It was time to either make a change to the business model or go home.
On April 25, 2001, Salon launched its Salon Premium service. Some content previously accessible to all site visitors would now be available only to subscribers.
A hue and cry issued forth. Some patrons penned letters criticizing the action as "going against the very principle of a free press!" (Perhaps they were unclear as to what our Founding Fathers had in mind.) And plenty of industry critics said the subscriber number would never be large enough to make alienating the entire visitor base worthwhile.
For some visitors, the value of a subscription wasn't in line with the amount of time they spent at the site. They opted out, claiming they could find the same information for free at other sites. Others cried foul that what they had grown to rely on now came with a price tag, but they stuck around anyway.
For Salon, it was a gamble that paid off big time. In fact, the number of visitors who subscribed to the news service in the first day totally turned the company around. It seemed then, as it does now, Salon was providing a service that was worth supporting.
Fast-forward two years. Salon now boasts a subscriber base of just under 70,000 members. It has created an advertising model that appeals to both visitors and advertisers. This hasn't happened without a lot of work over the last two years.
At the end of 2002, Salon unveiled its Day Pass program. This allows any visitor who wants access to the entire site to first watch an online ad. Doing so gives a viewer 18 hours of access following the ad view. The viewer can go through the same process any day he wants access.
According to Hurley, the response from visitors has been positive and hasn't generated the vitriol accompanying many current online ad campaigns. As with traditional television advertising, most viewers seem to understand the model of getting something of value in exchange for a small portion of their time and attention.
Advertisers also have shown support for the approach by coming back for more. According to Hurley, early results from some of the campaigns have included double-digit CTRs and a 2 to 3 percent response rate. Not bad for a campaign that collected e-mail addresses.
Hurley says Salon owes much of its recent success in the new advertising model to Dana Jones of Ultramercial, who helped the company develop an ad format that met the needs of advertisers without "assaulting" users.
According to Jones, the "station break" advertising approach just makes sense. Unlike pop-up ad purveyors, Jones said Ultramercial is continuously getting "love letters" from viewers who appreciate the respectful way the advertising is designed. Couple that with the results advertisers are getting, and you have the start of a success story.
Jones said the composite average time the ads are being viewed (with no ad designed to last more than 30 seconds) is 52 seconds. This model, which provides viewers with engaging messages, would seem to work far better than those that use forced messages or can be easily circumvented.
Ultramercial, which 10 months ago had Salon as its only client, has recently signed IGN Entertainment, Emode.com, TheStreet.com, and iVillage. All are now using Ultramercials on their sites.
Time will tell if this advertising approach is what the online advertising market needs. For Salon and Ultramercial it has already made a difference in how they operate. As pop-ups and other invasive ad types are phased out, the new gatekeeper ads may just be the next successful format in online advertising.
Coca-Cola's Global Master Plan
STEVE HEYER'S MANIFESTO FOR A NEW AGE OF MARKETING
Editor's Note: LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- In a speech as electric as it was provocative in its visions for revolutionizing the advertising and entertainment industries, Coca-Cola Co. chief Steve Heyer yesterday challenged marketers, media moguls and agency heads to rethink the core assumptions and practices of their current business models.
As keynote speaker at Advertising Age's first Madison & Vine conference at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Mr. Heyer laid out both the ways he believes marketing must be re-engineered as well as his overall plan for Coca-Cola to be a world leader in the new reality he predicts.
Even before the room cleared for the next session of the conference, Ad Age began receiving requests for copies of Mr. Heyer's dramatic remarks. The speech was clearly perceived by many attendees as a landmark address likely to trigger and fuel ongoing comment, controversy and no small amount of introspection among the upper ranks of business managers it targeted.
Steven J. Heyer
COO, Coca Cola Co.
Keynote Remarks Advertising Age Madison + Vine Conference
Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills, Calif.
At the Coca-Cola Company we're thinking about marketing in a radically different way. And I'd suggest that those of you here today who aren't yet thinking this way ought to start right now.
Economic and social developments demand a new approach to connecting with audiences, with consumers:
The economic landscape around media cost-efficiencies
The escalation of property and sponsorship costs
The trifecta that is the fragmentation and proliferation of media, and the consolidation in media ownership -- soon to be followed by a wholesale unbundling.
The erosion of mass markets
The empowerment of consumers who now have an unrivaled ability to edit and avoid advertising and to shift day parts
A consumer trend toward mass customization and personalization
And the emergence of an experience-based economy, where cultural production is more important than physical production -- cultural production is where Madison meets Vine.
I am describing a magnitude and urgency of change that isn't evolutionary -- it's transformational. And as leaders in consumer packaged goods, Coca-Cola will go first.
Where will Coke go? To accelerate the convergence of Madison & Vine -- a convergence of the trinity in brand building -- content, and media, and marketing.
This is a convergence born of necessity. Economic necessity and marketplace opportunity. We need each other -- now more than ever. We need each other to capture people's attention and influence their attitudes and behaviors.
The media and marketing executives among us better recognize that corporate marketers will not reflexively turn to TV advertising when what we mean is powerful communication and consumer connection.
Even after a record year at the Box Office, the studio executives among us better recognize that to utilize the same traditional media we do, will subject them to the same declines in its efficacy and threaten their results. And maybe even more important as creators of cultural currency, studios are substantially under-leveraging the value of their assets.
The music executives among us better recognize that they are limited by a dissolution of their traditional distribution and business models and by the consolidation of radio, the diminution of MTV's play list, and by the ever changing tastes and fleeting loyalties of a consumer with fickle tendencies, an explosion of choice and a myriad of ways to capture music content.
The television executives among us, and remember, I used to be one of you, better recognize, you are prisoners of media fragmentation and proliferation and the changing media consumption habits of younger generations. And that your C's won't grow faster than your PM's will decline.
And the agency executives among us, and I used to be one of you too, your model is in need of a wholesale redefinition... your future will be in working with, not against, content creators. Agencies should be quarterbacking the collaborations... most undermine them.
So to Vine, we need your content, your storytelling, your influence, your ability to create experiences. We need your ability to help us sell. As you need ours.
For ever since Clark Gable took off his shirt in It Happened One Night and sales of men's undershirts plummeted, popular culture, entertainment, has proven its ability to sell products and services, to transform brands and images to define what's relevant to facilitate transactions and relationships.
And so to Madison, you need our marketing prowess, our reach, our distribution, our day in and day out presence and connection to the lives of our shared audiences around the world.
Together we can be more and do more and make more than any of us can alone. If we do it right. If we do it differently than we've been doing it. If we innovate. If we each do what we're each best at... and do it collaboratively.
So how does Madison meet Vine? What's the intersection?
It's not the property, the TV show, the movie, the music or the brand. It's why, where, and how we bring them together. And it is, as ever, about the consumer, all glued together by a powerful idea.
It's the insight about people's passions and the connections we create -- naturally and uniquely - between them and the equity in our brands. Cultural icons in brand context. Important events tied to important brands... with an important reason why.
Our shared challenge isn't just in overcoming the creative and economic tensions that are an inherent part of this convergence of content and commerce... it's about creating more value for the consumer -- as a way of creating more value for our business and shareholders.
It's that simple and that tough. We must create more value for consumers, audiences, and customers.
How?
Through cooperation, collaboration, and innovation in marketing and communication. Through innovation in the way Madison meets Vine. Through working together to create something for our brands that matters more on Main Street and ultimately Wall Street. For TCCC, that's value around the bottle that's at least as great as the value in the bottle. (Use bottle as prop)
Why do we believe that this is possible?
Because creating value around this bottle is the secret formula of Coca-Cola's success. Coca-Cola isn't black water with a little sugar and a lot of fizz anymore than one of your movies is celluloid digital bits and bytes, or one of your songs is a random collection of words and notes. Coca-Cola isn't a drink. It's an idea. Like great movies, like great music. Coca-Cola is a feeling.
Coca-Cola is refreshment and connection. Always has been... always will be.
That's a timeless proposition. But we express it in the unique vocabulary of each generation, for what's timeless must also be timely -- or it's dated. What's classic should stay classic -- but must also remain contemporary. Like Elvis, the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Superman... and Coke Classic
That's how our products, brands, and businesses stay fresh, relevant and in demand. It's all about right associations, at the right time with the right idea.
The right associations with the right movies, artists, video games and events illustrate, enhance and accelerate the contemporization of core brand values.
But that's no longer enough.
So where are we going?
Away from spots in pods.
Away from broadcast TV as the anchor medium.
Away from product placements that are gratuitous, because they lack a compelling idea. Because in today's marketing and media environment only the naive and foolish confuse presence with impact. "Presence is easy -- impact is hard."
Away from discrete media elements... of any and all types.
And away from traditional relationships with agencies, the Hollywood community, the sports community and many of our customers.
So where are we headed?
We're headed to ideas. Not properties per se, but intellectual property.
Ideas that bring entertainment value to our brands, and ideas that integrate our brands into entertainment.
We're moving to ideas that use celebrities to illustrate, enhance and extend the values that underpin our brands. We don't want to use talent simply to breakthrough the clutter. Breaking through is a first step but it's not enough. And, frankly our brands are bigger than celebrity spokespeople -- and borrowed equity only works when you have none of your own.
We will use a diverse array of entertainment assets to break into people's hearts and minds. In that order. For this is the way to their wallets. Always has been. Always will be. This much hasn't changed.
We're moving to ideas that elicit emotion and create connections. And this speeds the convergence of Madison and Vine. Because the ideas which have always sat at the heart of the stories you've told and the content you've sold... whether movies or music or television... are no longer just intellectual property, they're emotional capital.
And we will help you create and sell more of it -- so that we too can spend it. How? Earlier I'd mentioned the erosion of mass markets. Markets are giving way to networks. In a networked economy, ideas, concepts, and images are the items of real value - you know, marketing. Demand creation and demand fulfillment.
And there is no network on earth more powerful than The Coca-Cola Company -- powerful, and unbelievably underleveraged. And, for the right value proposition and exchange, we are willing to make our network available to you.
This value for value exchange is the convergence of Madison and Vine.
We have more and better properties than any traditionally defined network, because we are a networked system.
Look around you, the Coca-Cola Company has more impressions than any other company on the planet. You see our brand on cafés, concession booths and hot dog stands. Our brands light up Times Square and Piccadilly Square, but also neighborhood delis and ballparks. People wear the brand on t-shirts and ball caps. They display it on coolers and beach balls and key chains just about anything you can think of.
The Coca-Cola Company in the U.S. spends $1 million on advertising every day that 20 million people see...
30 million people drink Cokes in exclusive Coca-Cola foodservice accounts every day...
20 million people buy Cokes from vending machines every day...
4 million people go see movies sipping on Cokes every day...
25 million people buy our bottles or cans every day...
Coke trucks travel over 1 million miles every day.
In total, The Coca-Cola Company benefits from 2 billion plus brand communication opportunities every day in the U.S. alone.
The Coca-Cola Company has a presence like no other company on earth. We have a network of connections no one can match or even approach... that takes us from the biggest events on the planet... to the most intimate neighborhood gatherings... from associations with celebrities... to partnerships in local sports, film and music festivals and celebrations in communities around the world. Every day.
It's an impressive list of assets that takes us from the Olympics and the World Cup, to Disney and Universal theme parks, to 63% of college campuses and 84% of domestic movie theaters. 70% of the nations fountain business.
But that's all it is, a list... unless it's activated and wired in a meaningful way for our brands, our customers and -- of course -- our consumers... your audience . When it's wired, it's a beautiful thing -- a network focused on brand building. A network capable of delivering a message, a motivation, an idea, a CD, a DVD, a ticket.
So do we need reach and frequency -- no. We need idea driven connection with our targets.
Our marketing efforts, our properties and media and celebrity deals will only produce an adequate return on investment if we use our network of bottlers, customers, promotional partners, properties and associations to add value beyond the bottle and enrich the lives of our consumers.
You can be our added value. And we can be yours.
That's where Madison and Vine ought to converge... but don't... yet.
So what's going to create the impetus to change? Same things that always do -- economic pain, and economic opportunity.
The commercial time that isn't bought.
The movie that can't attract a promotional partner to help it open big.
The cable network that can't be launched without seed money from advertisers.
The event that can't find sponsors.
The song that can't get on the radio
The artist that can't tour
Intellectually, at least at the macro level, both Madison and Vine are already there. But thought isn't being translated into action just yet, because some are afraid of missing out on important pieces of cultural connection.
But in time fear will subside, or the fearful will lose their jobs. And if a new model isn't developed, the old one will simply collapse.
People are always saying that this medium or that medium is in decay, declining, going away. No medium goes away; its role changes. That's all. And as media fragmentation continues... and as new choices continue to emerge and technology leaps out ahead of consumers' wishes to change the way they behave... it's incumbent upon us all -- advertisers, marketers, creators of content and culture, everyone in this game -- to think. And to think differently about how we'll connect with consumers in the future.
At TCCC we are -- early stages, but we are. That's why we work so closely with our partners at CAA. We view your content as "new media"... a new way to reach and motivate our consumer... it's your movies, your music, your video games that become a component part of our communications strategy and plan. You should view us the same way. As a partner and a resource, not just a source of new revenues.
The Universal Music Group does. Jimmy Iovine understands the power of our network and we appreciate his skills and ability to tap into popular culture. What does he get? That we can help break new acts, support new releases, and help sell, not just give away, music. And he understands that it's a collaboration. Our advertising creative becomes his FM Radio. His artists become our way of connecting with audiences and contemporizing our brands. Let's look at what we just did together. Jimmy's music delivering our brand message -- not just great music -- but delivering a brand message, and as it does that for me, we are creating a hit for him.
And I'd like to suggest that we think about using any and all media in a new way. It's something we call access.
The concept is simple: create value for people... that lives beyond and extends the immediate moment of consumption... connecting with their passions in a way only The Coca-Cola Company can.
Enriched experiences that drive brand strength and product sales.
How?
By aggregating our properties in a network of touch points that enrich people's lives. Experience-based, access-driven marketing is our next frontier.
As we move to an experience-based economy, the effective use of relevant and powerful cultural references takes a front seat. Each person's life becomes a commercial market. And any ad agency that thinks a jingle connects like real music, or a powerful movie, and doesn't collaborate is lost.
Most of the traditional media people here think about reach and frequency at a price. And most of the entertainment people think about Corporate America as a new source of funding for production and a new source of revenue for opening hot and with the power to create a hit. Most of the marketers here think about advertising that packs a punch to reach a target.
Imagine if we all thought about the same thing at the same time. Imagine if self-interest took a back seat to mutual interest. Yes, even here in Hollywood.
Imagine if we used our collective toolkit to create an ever-expanding variety of interactions for people that -- over time -- built a relationship, an on-going series of transactions, that is unique, differentiated and deeper... improving everyone's economics and reversing the buyer-seller, zero-sum game.
Managing the quality of our consumer relationships -- together -- should take on the same urgency that controlling the means of production once did -- we don't need to own factories, you don't need to own studios. Powerful expression of ideas not hard assets.
In this new marketing world we need to look at one and other not in terms of how much we can pay, but in terms of what we can do and make together. How we can exchange value to create value.
You need to start looking at Corporate America, at the Coca-Cola Company, not as a company with deep pockets... but as a company with deep capabilities. Vast reach and extraordinary potential. We destroy one another's value when it's just about money -- the dollar-only based model is not sustainable. We will neither pay nor play by these rules any longer.
We are a strategic partner for you, focused on providing unique, differentiated experiences for our consumers, your audiences. Together, we need to concentrate on building relationships instead of making one-off transactions. That means we need to do business with a longer term view.
If I'm right about our network and its power, we can help open a movie with our packages, we can popularize and sell new music; we can drive awareness, differentiation and interest for you... just as you do for us.
Our goal: to become as critical to your marketing as you are to ours... leverage our network, just like you leverage yours.
And... maybe... charge you, like you charge us.
We're all comfortable with our traditional roles.
Hollywood creates culture, defines what's interesting, hip and relevant.
Madison Avenue interprets brand values and defines the connections to culture in a contemporary and interesting way.
Marketers build programs that glue together a multiplicity of relationships to create the reasons why we are entitled to a consumer's loyalty and a premium price.
Those clear-cut definitions fit neatly into a box... a box defined by uniformity and predictability, which is no longer sustainable in a hyper-fragmenting world. If we continue to confine ourselves to those roles that box is going to become a coffin. The headstone will read: "They didn't try."
We don't intend to get buried. I don't think you do either. So each of us needs to think outside that box. We need to broaden the definition of our roles. We need to leverage a powerful network held together by an unseen fabric of connections.
All of us in the game... those who make television shows, video games, music and movies ... those who build brands... and those who help connect those brands with consumers through the elements of popular culture need to establish enhanced relationships with one another in an effort to deliver unique experiences to the consumer.
That's a new model for a new era. "An era of co-creation." It is what the Coca-Cola Company will insist on from its partners. But it isn't something The Coca-Cola Company can build alone. It's a model we need to build together... at the intersection of Madison and Vine.
We just put a big sign in the window -- partners wanted.
The Coca-Cola Company is open for business.
STEVE HEYER'S MANIFESTO FOR A NEW AGE OF MARKETING
Editor's Note: LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) -- In a speech as electric as it was provocative in its visions for revolutionizing the advertising and entertainment industries, Coca-Cola Co. chief Steve Heyer yesterday challenged marketers, media moguls and agency heads to rethink the core assumptions and practices of their current business models.
As keynote speaker at Advertising Age's first Madison & Vine conference at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Mr. Heyer laid out both the ways he believes marketing must be re-engineered as well as his overall plan for Coca-Cola to be a world leader in the new reality he predicts.
Even before the room cleared for the next session of the conference, Ad Age began receiving requests for copies of Mr. Heyer's dramatic remarks. The speech was clearly perceived by many attendees as a landmark address likely to trigger and fuel ongoing comment, controversy and no small amount of introspection among the upper ranks of business managers it targeted.
Steven J. Heyer
COO, Coca Cola Co.
Keynote Remarks Advertising Age Madison + Vine Conference
Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills, Calif.
At the Coca-Cola Company we're thinking about marketing in a radically different way. And I'd suggest that those of you here today who aren't yet thinking this way ought to start right now.
Economic and social developments demand a new approach to connecting with audiences, with consumers:
The economic landscape around media cost-efficiencies
The escalation of property and sponsorship costs
The trifecta that is the fragmentation and proliferation of media, and the consolidation in media ownership -- soon to be followed by a wholesale unbundling.
The erosion of mass markets
The empowerment of consumers who now have an unrivaled ability to edit and avoid advertising and to shift day parts
A consumer trend toward mass customization and personalization
And the emergence of an experience-based economy, where cultural production is more important than physical production -- cultural production is where Madison meets Vine.
I am describing a magnitude and urgency of change that isn't evolutionary -- it's transformational. And as leaders in consumer packaged goods, Coca-Cola will go first.
Where will Coke go? To accelerate the convergence of Madison & Vine -- a convergence of the trinity in brand building -- content, and media, and marketing.
This is a convergence born of necessity. Economic necessity and marketplace opportunity. We need each other -- now more than ever. We need each other to capture people's attention and influence their attitudes and behaviors.
The media and marketing executives among us better recognize that corporate marketers will not reflexively turn to TV advertising when what we mean is powerful communication and consumer connection.
Even after a record year at the Box Office, the studio executives among us better recognize that to utilize the same traditional media we do, will subject them to the same declines in its efficacy and threaten their results. And maybe even more important as creators of cultural currency, studios are substantially under-leveraging the value of their assets.
The music executives among us better recognize that they are limited by a dissolution of their traditional distribution and business models and by the consolidation of radio, the diminution of MTV's play list, and by the ever changing tastes and fleeting loyalties of a consumer with fickle tendencies, an explosion of choice and a myriad of ways to capture music content.
The television executives among us, and remember, I used to be one of you, better recognize, you are prisoners of media fragmentation and proliferation and the changing media consumption habits of younger generations. And that your C's won't grow faster than your PM's will decline.
And the agency executives among us, and I used to be one of you too, your model is in need of a wholesale redefinition... your future will be in working with, not against, content creators. Agencies should be quarterbacking the collaborations... most undermine them.
So to Vine, we need your content, your storytelling, your influence, your ability to create experiences. We need your ability to help us sell. As you need ours.
For ever since Clark Gable took off his shirt in It Happened One Night and sales of men's undershirts plummeted, popular culture, entertainment, has proven its ability to sell products and services, to transform brands and images to define what's relevant to facilitate transactions and relationships.
And so to Madison, you need our marketing prowess, our reach, our distribution, our day in and day out presence and connection to the lives of our shared audiences around the world.
Together we can be more and do more and make more than any of us can alone. If we do it right. If we do it differently than we've been doing it. If we innovate. If we each do what we're each best at... and do it collaboratively.
So how does Madison meet Vine? What's the intersection?
It's not the property, the TV show, the movie, the music or the brand. It's why, where, and how we bring them together. And it is, as ever, about the consumer, all glued together by a powerful idea.
It's the insight about people's passions and the connections we create -- naturally and uniquely - between them and the equity in our brands. Cultural icons in brand context. Important events tied to important brands... with an important reason why.
Our shared challenge isn't just in overcoming the creative and economic tensions that are an inherent part of this convergence of content and commerce... it's about creating more value for the consumer -- as a way of creating more value for our business and shareholders.
It's that simple and that tough. We must create more value for consumers, audiences, and customers.
How?
Through cooperation, collaboration, and innovation in marketing and communication. Through innovation in the way Madison meets Vine. Through working together to create something for our brands that matters more on Main Street and ultimately Wall Street. For TCCC, that's value around the bottle that's at least as great as the value in the bottle. (Use bottle as prop)
Why do we believe that this is possible?
Because creating value around this bottle is the secret formula of Coca-Cola's success. Coca-Cola isn't black water with a little sugar and a lot of fizz anymore than one of your movies is celluloid digital bits and bytes, or one of your songs is a random collection of words and notes. Coca-Cola isn't a drink. It's an idea. Like great movies, like great music. Coca-Cola is a feeling.
Coca-Cola is refreshment and connection. Always has been... always will be.
That's a timeless proposition. But we express it in the unique vocabulary of each generation, for what's timeless must also be timely -- or it's dated. What's classic should stay classic -- but must also remain contemporary. Like Elvis, the Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Superman... and Coke Classic
That's how our products, brands, and businesses stay fresh, relevant and in demand. It's all about right associations, at the right time with the right idea.
The right associations with the right movies, artists, video games and events illustrate, enhance and accelerate the contemporization of core brand values.
But that's no longer enough.
So where are we going?
Away from spots in pods.
Away from broadcast TV as the anchor medium.
Away from product placements that are gratuitous, because they lack a compelling idea. Because in today's marketing and media environment only the naive and foolish confuse presence with impact. "Presence is easy -- impact is hard."
Away from discrete media elements... of any and all types.
And away from traditional relationships with agencies, the Hollywood community, the sports community and many of our customers.
So where are we headed?
We're headed to ideas. Not properties per se, but intellectual property.
Ideas that bring entertainment value to our brands, and ideas that integrate our brands into entertainment.
We're moving to ideas that use celebrities to illustrate, enhance and extend the values that underpin our brands. We don't want to use talent simply to breakthrough the clutter. Breaking through is a first step but it's not enough. And, frankly our brands are bigger than celebrity spokespeople -- and borrowed equity only works when you have none of your own.
We will use a diverse array of entertainment assets to break into people's hearts and minds. In that order. For this is the way to their wallets. Always has been. Always will be. This much hasn't changed.
We're moving to ideas that elicit emotion and create connections. And this speeds the convergence of Madison and Vine. Because the ideas which have always sat at the heart of the stories you've told and the content you've sold... whether movies or music or television... are no longer just intellectual property, they're emotional capital.
And we will help you create and sell more of it -- so that we too can spend it. How? Earlier I'd mentioned the erosion of mass markets. Markets are giving way to networks. In a networked economy, ideas, concepts, and images are the items of real value - you know, marketing. Demand creation and demand fulfillment.
And there is no network on earth more powerful than The Coca-Cola Company -- powerful, and unbelievably underleveraged. And, for the right value proposition and exchange, we are willing to make our network available to you.
This value for value exchange is the convergence of Madison and Vine.
We have more and better properties than any traditionally defined network, because we are a networked system.
Look around you, the Coca-Cola Company has more impressions than any other company on the planet. You see our brand on cafés, concession booths and hot dog stands. Our brands light up Times Square and Piccadilly Square, but also neighborhood delis and ballparks. People wear the brand on t-shirts and ball caps. They display it on coolers and beach balls and key chains just about anything you can think of.
The Coca-Cola Company in the U.S. spends $1 million on advertising every day that 20 million people see...
30 million people drink Cokes in exclusive Coca-Cola foodservice accounts every day...
20 million people buy Cokes from vending machines every day...
4 million people go see movies sipping on Cokes every day...
25 million people buy our bottles or cans every day...
Coke trucks travel over 1 million miles every day.
In total, The Coca-Cola Company benefits from 2 billion plus brand communication opportunities every day in the U.S. alone.
The Coca-Cola Company has a presence like no other company on earth. We have a network of connections no one can match or even approach... that takes us from the biggest events on the planet... to the most intimate neighborhood gatherings... from associations with celebrities... to partnerships in local sports, film and music festivals and celebrations in communities around the world. Every day.
It's an impressive list of assets that takes us from the Olympics and the World Cup, to Disney and Universal theme parks, to 63% of college campuses and 84% of domestic movie theaters. 70% of the nations fountain business.
But that's all it is, a list... unless it's activated and wired in a meaningful way for our brands, our customers and -- of course -- our consumers... your audience . When it's wired, it's a beautiful thing -- a network focused on brand building. A network capable of delivering a message, a motivation, an idea, a CD, a DVD, a ticket.
So do we need reach and frequency -- no. We need idea driven connection with our targets.
Our marketing efforts, our properties and media and celebrity deals will only produce an adequate return on investment if we use our network of bottlers, customers, promotional partners, properties and associations to add value beyond the bottle and enrich the lives of our consumers.
You can be our added value. And we can be yours.
That's where Madison and Vine ought to converge... but don't... yet.
So what's going to create the impetus to change? Same things that always do -- economic pain, and economic opportunity.
The commercial time that isn't bought.
The movie that can't attract a promotional partner to help it open big.
The cable network that can't be launched without seed money from advertisers.
The event that can't find sponsors.
The song that can't get on the radio
The artist that can't tour
Intellectually, at least at the macro level, both Madison and Vine are already there. But thought isn't being translated into action just yet, because some are afraid of missing out on important pieces of cultural connection.
But in time fear will subside, or the fearful will lose their jobs. And if a new model isn't developed, the old one will simply collapse.
People are always saying that this medium or that medium is in decay, declining, going away. No medium goes away; its role changes. That's all. And as media fragmentation continues... and as new choices continue to emerge and technology leaps out ahead of consumers' wishes to change the way they behave... it's incumbent upon us all -- advertisers, marketers, creators of content and culture, everyone in this game -- to think. And to think differently about how we'll connect with consumers in the future.
At TCCC we are -- early stages, but we are. That's why we work so closely with our partners at CAA. We view your content as "new media"... a new way to reach and motivate our consumer... it's your movies, your music, your video games that become a component part of our communications strategy and plan. You should view us the same way. As a partner and a resource, not just a source of new revenues.
The Universal Music Group does. Jimmy Iovine understands the power of our network and we appreciate his skills and ability to tap into popular culture. What does he get? That we can help break new acts, support new releases, and help sell, not just give away, music. And he understands that it's a collaboration. Our advertising creative becomes his FM Radio. His artists become our way of connecting with audiences and contemporizing our brands. Let's look at what we just did together. Jimmy's music delivering our brand message -- not just great music -- but delivering a brand message, and as it does that for me, we are creating a hit for him.
And I'd like to suggest that we think about using any and all media in a new way. It's something we call access.
The concept is simple: create value for people... that lives beyond and extends the immediate moment of consumption... connecting with their passions in a way only The Coca-Cola Company can.
Enriched experiences that drive brand strength and product sales.
How?
By aggregating our properties in a network of touch points that enrich people's lives. Experience-based, access-driven marketing is our next frontier.
As we move to an experience-based economy, the effective use of relevant and powerful cultural references takes a front seat. Each person's life becomes a commercial market. And any ad agency that thinks a jingle connects like real music, or a powerful movie, and doesn't collaborate is lost.
Most of the traditional media people here think about reach and frequency at a price. And most of the entertainment people think about Corporate America as a new source of funding for production and a new source of revenue for opening hot and with the power to create a hit. Most of the marketers here think about advertising that packs a punch to reach a target.
Imagine if we all thought about the same thing at the same time. Imagine if self-interest took a back seat to mutual interest. Yes, even here in Hollywood.
Imagine if we used our collective toolkit to create an ever-expanding variety of interactions for people that -- over time -- built a relationship, an on-going series of transactions, that is unique, differentiated and deeper... improving everyone's economics and reversing the buyer-seller, zero-sum game.
Managing the quality of our consumer relationships -- together -- should take on the same urgency that controlling the means of production once did -- we don't need to own factories, you don't need to own studios. Powerful expression of ideas not hard assets.
In this new marketing world we need to look at one and other not in terms of how much we can pay, but in terms of what we can do and make together. How we can exchange value to create value.
You need to start looking at Corporate America, at the Coca-Cola Company, not as a company with deep pockets... but as a company with deep capabilities. Vast reach and extraordinary potential. We destroy one another's value when it's just about money -- the dollar-only based model is not sustainable. We will neither pay nor play by these rules any longer.
We are a strategic partner for you, focused on providing unique, differentiated experiences for our consumers, your audiences. Together, we need to concentrate on building relationships instead of making one-off transactions. That means we need to do business with a longer term view.
If I'm right about our network and its power, we can help open a movie with our packages, we can popularize and sell new music; we can drive awareness, differentiation and interest for you... just as you do for us.
Our goal: to become as critical to your marketing as you are to ours... leverage our network, just like you leverage yours.
And... maybe... charge you, like you charge us.
We're all comfortable with our traditional roles.
Hollywood creates culture, defines what's interesting, hip and relevant.
Madison Avenue interprets brand values and defines the connections to culture in a contemporary and interesting way.
Marketers build programs that glue together a multiplicity of relationships to create the reasons why we are entitled to a consumer's loyalty and a premium price.
Those clear-cut definitions fit neatly into a box... a box defined by uniformity and predictability, which is no longer sustainable in a hyper-fragmenting world. If we continue to confine ourselves to those roles that box is going to become a coffin. The headstone will read: "They didn't try."
We don't intend to get buried. I don't think you do either. So each of us needs to think outside that box. We need to broaden the definition of our roles. We need to leverage a powerful network held together by an unseen fabric of connections.
All of us in the game... those who make television shows, video games, music and movies ... those who build brands... and those who help connect those brands with consumers through the elements of popular culture need to establish enhanced relationships with one another in an effort to deliver unique experiences to the consumer.
That's a new model for a new era. "An era of co-creation." It is what the Coca-Cola Company will insist on from its partners. But it isn't something The Coca-Cola Company can build alone. It's a model we need to build together... at the intersection of Madison and Vine.
We just put a big sign in the window -- partners wanted.
The Coca-Cola Company is open for business.
Entertainment Advertising Moves the Needle
By Underscore Marketing
Entertainment is defined as “something diverting or engaging, for example a public performance.” Throughout the whole of human experience, as we’ve lived together in collectives and first created the conditions for leisure, entertainment has been essential to keeping us socially sane. It is a need we have, as individuals, that makes being part of a group tolerable. Entertainment has, at times, even served to make us part of a group, a tribe, or a society.
Since Greek tragedy (literally translated, means “goat song”) and Roman theater, entertainment has served as a kind of catharsis. It is a purification or purgation of the emotions through art that brings about spiritual renewal or release from tension. It gives cause to the elimination of a complex by bringing it to consciousness and affording it expression.
Because of this essential role, entertainment is valuable. And being valuable, it is no wonder it is also BIG business. In the year 2001, adjusted total revenues for all publicly reported entertainment companies were $44.1 billion, and would have been better were it not for loss of revenue due to a horrendous recorded music market.
Like all big businesses, entertainment products need to be advertised. Two of the top 10 advertisers of 2001, the last year for which complete data has been published, were entertainment companies – AOL Time Warner and Disney.
Entertainment Advertising Needs the Web
The Internet has fast become an important medium for entertainment category product to be promoted. Entertainment products like movies and music are more reliant on interactive marketing strategy and tactics than ever before. Starting with something like “The Blair Witch Project” and evolving to something like CBS’ 24/7 video offering of Big Brother, the Internet as a medium has shown it is THE vehicle for helping to promote entertainment product.
One of the contributing factors to this is the continued splintering of audiences into smaller and smaller groups. Tastes and interests, particularly for all things “entertainment,” have become increasingly specialized, rendering blunter instruments like broadcast less effective on their own. But, the digital space has to be part of a comprehensive communications package.
“As audiences grow increasingly fragmented, targeting becomes essential, and interactive media is best suited to this,” says Norman Basch, former general manager of Interactive for FremantleMedia, most recently responsible for the program American Idol.
“Regarding American Idol, the Web site is promoted on air and in print, as part of the promotion of the TV program. In addition, for the first series we partnered with MSN, which provided billions of impressions linking back to the official site idolonfox.com.”
Entertainment Products Require “Brand Engagement”
Entertainment category products rely even more heavily on being advertised than other product categories. Most products in the category can be considered “perishable.” Brands such as movies, music, and other saleable components of pop-culture are not necessarily built to last. They need to be promoted and sold quickly.
As cultural products, they also are not considerable as traditional “hard goods.” Therefore, they rely almost solely on their being positioned emotionally and personally relevant. They require being almost “instantly” branded. Entertainment product has to find its way into our daily lives, become special, and then move on.
In the 21st century, becoming part of an individual’s “flow experience” is going to be necessary in order to win out for our attention over all the other products and services competing for it. “If a user is on Moviefone getting information on ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’ and decides to buy a movie ticket, he will see a link to NewLineShop.com on the Moviefone Two Towers detail page,” explains Lisa Cross, director of E-Commerce Marketing at New Line Cinemas. “Our thought is that if someone is in the process of buying a ticket for the movie, he is most likely a fan and it's a good time to let him know about our collectible Lord of the Rings merchandise.”
“Brand engagement is the ideal form of marketing for ALL advertisers,” declares Steven Marrs, formerly president and COO of TribalDDB and currently founder and CEO of Brand Entertainment Studios, a provider of cross-platform service offerings such as entertainment marketing and promotions, interactive development and marketing, and product integration.
“If you can create an environment that is entertaining to your desired consumers and allows them to be entertained within the context of the brand,” Marrs continues, “then you have an ideal form of communication with your consumer that is relevant, original and impactful.”
One of the interesting things about instances of engagement branding is that the immediate outcome of the response element made possible through the use of digital media isn't usually to sell a widget. Since entertainment product, particularly film or television programming, is not something you can “click and buy,” the quality of the discourse between an advertiser and a prospect takes on elements unique to the digital media space.
Instead the result of the "lean forward" activity an interactive advertising asset might create is data. This data can be turned into valuable information about a product: brand perception, attitude, usage, what kind of individual is attracted to that product's value proposition, etc.
Engagement Branding Leads to New Discipline
Understanding customers and their needs has traditionally been a separate endeavor to that of advertising. It is research and development, it is marketing, but it hasn't really been advertising. Advertising usually happens after the project of understanding consumers and their needs.
The concept of engagement branding could be where marketing research and advertising co-exist to create a new, synthetic marketing discipline. It appears that entertainment product marketing on the Web is leading the way there.
So far, tactics actualizing these concepts of amalgamated marketing philosophies have manifested themselves as things like affiliate marketing, cross-promotional activity, and integration with other entertainment product divisions within the same company.
“Our revenue share-based affiliate program has been one of our most effective advertising programs,” states Cross. “Partnering with other New Line Cinema divisions like home video and our online division to integrate the shop into the movie sites are also important strategies. In addition, cross promotional programs with other AOLTW companies are important pieces to our marketing and advertising mix.”
By becoming part of the environment, the advertised product (movie, CD, game, etc.) has become a vital part of the content an audience is considering, weaving itself into each individual’s experience in a unique way.
“We believe all advertising, to be successful, needs to think about marketing within the context of a consumer’s day by telling a story that is entertaining, informative and experiential, but more important, relevant,” comments Marrs. “The Internet is a great media to serve as a ‘hub’ for these integrated efforts.”
Entertainment Advertising Becomes Part of a “Flow Experience”
Branding traditionally has been a "lean back" experience, a passive state of being awash in moods and tones tied to sound, motion, and images that all work in concert to elicit an emotional response from an audience that will connect with a given product or service.
Direct response has traditionally been more of a "lean forward" experience, especially in the online space, where an audience is asked to submit actively to a call to action.
Entertainment product (and perhaps all product for that matter) is moving towards becoming part of a user’s “flow experience” through a kind of “engagement branding” -- bringing the ideas of branding and responding together, allowing for the rhetorical exercise of convincing an individual that by interacting with a given product or service that individual will alter his or her relationship with the world around him or her in a positive, meaningful way and allow the person to satisfy that constructed need within the confines of the medium itself.
“Integrated advertising campaigns seem to be most effective for successful Web stories. Consumers do not ‘live’ and consume a single media,” concludes Marrs of Brand Entertainment Studios. “They’re exposed all day long to various forms of media. The true Web success stories come from those companies that understand how to communicate to a consumer throughout the day in a consistent and relevant way.”
By Underscore Marketing
Entertainment is defined as “something diverting or engaging, for example a public performance.” Throughout the whole of human experience, as we’ve lived together in collectives and first created the conditions for leisure, entertainment has been essential to keeping us socially sane. It is a need we have, as individuals, that makes being part of a group tolerable. Entertainment has, at times, even served to make us part of a group, a tribe, or a society.
Since Greek tragedy (literally translated, means “goat song”) and Roman theater, entertainment has served as a kind of catharsis. It is a purification or purgation of the emotions through art that brings about spiritual renewal or release from tension. It gives cause to the elimination of a complex by bringing it to consciousness and affording it expression.
Because of this essential role, entertainment is valuable. And being valuable, it is no wonder it is also BIG business. In the year 2001, adjusted total revenues for all publicly reported entertainment companies were $44.1 billion, and would have been better were it not for loss of revenue due to a horrendous recorded music market.
Like all big businesses, entertainment products need to be advertised. Two of the top 10 advertisers of 2001, the last year for which complete data has been published, were entertainment companies – AOL Time Warner and Disney.
Entertainment Advertising Needs the Web
The Internet has fast become an important medium for entertainment category product to be promoted. Entertainment products like movies and music are more reliant on interactive marketing strategy and tactics than ever before. Starting with something like “The Blair Witch Project” and evolving to something like CBS’ 24/7 video offering of Big Brother, the Internet as a medium has shown it is THE vehicle for helping to promote entertainment product.
One of the contributing factors to this is the continued splintering of audiences into smaller and smaller groups. Tastes and interests, particularly for all things “entertainment,” have become increasingly specialized, rendering blunter instruments like broadcast less effective on their own. But, the digital space has to be part of a comprehensive communications package.
“As audiences grow increasingly fragmented, targeting becomes essential, and interactive media is best suited to this,” says Norman Basch, former general manager of Interactive for FremantleMedia, most recently responsible for the program American Idol.
“Regarding American Idol, the Web site is promoted on air and in print, as part of the promotion of the TV program. In addition, for the first series we partnered with MSN, which provided billions of impressions linking back to the official site idolonfox.com.”
Entertainment Products Require “Brand Engagement”
Entertainment category products rely even more heavily on being advertised than other product categories. Most products in the category can be considered “perishable.” Brands such as movies, music, and other saleable components of pop-culture are not necessarily built to last. They need to be promoted and sold quickly.
As cultural products, they also are not considerable as traditional “hard goods.” Therefore, they rely almost solely on their being positioned emotionally and personally relevant. They require being almost “instantly” branded. Entertainment product has to find its way into our daily lives, become special, and then move on.
In the 21st century, becoming part of an individual’s “flow experience” is going to be necessary in order to win out for our attention over all the other products and services competing for it. “If a user is on Moviefone getting information on ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’ and decides to buy a movie ticket, he will see a link to NewLineShop.com on the Moviefone Two Towers detail page,” explains Lisa Cross, director of E-Commerce Marketing at New Line Cinemas. “Our thought is that if someone is in the process of buying a ticket for the movie, he is most likely a fan and it's a good time to let him know about our collectible Lord of the Rings merchandise.”
“Brand engagement is the ideal form of marketing for ALL advertisers,” declares Steven Marrs, formerly president and COO of TribalDDB and currently founder and CEO of Brand Entertainment Studios, a provider of cross-platform service offerings such as entertainment marketing and promotions, interactive development and marketing, and product integration.
“If you can create an environment that is entertaining to your desired consumers and allows them to be entertained within the context of the brand,” Marrs continues, “then you have an ideal form of communication with your consumer that is relevant, original and impactful.”
One of the interesting things about instances of engagement branding is that the immediate outcome of the response element made possible through the use of digital media isn't usually to sell a widget. Since entertainment product, particularly film or television programming, is not something you can “click and buy,” the quality of the discourse between an advertiser and a prospect takes on elements unique to the digital media space.
Instead the result of the "lean forward" activity an interactive advertising asset might create is data. This data can be turned into valuable information about a product: brand perception, attitude, usage, what kind of individual is attracted to that product's value proposition, etc.
Engagement Branding Leads to New Discipline
Understanding customers and their needs has traditionally been a separate endeavor to that of advertising. It is research and development, it is marketing, but it hasn't really been advertising. Advertising usually happens after the project of understanding consumers and their needs.
The concept of engagement branding could be where marketing research and advertising co-exist to create a new, synthetic marketing discipline. It appears that entertainment product marketing on the Web is leading the way there.
So far, tactics actualizing these concepts of amalgamated marketing philosophies have manifested themselves as things like affiliate marketing, cross-promotional activity, and integration with other entertainment product divisions within the same company.
“Our revenue share-based affiliate program has been one of our most effective advertising programs,” states Cross. “Partnering with other New Line Cinema divisions like home video and our online division to integrate the shop into the movie sites are also important strategies. In addition, cross promotional programs with other AOLTW companies are important pieces to our marketing and advertising mix.”
By becoming part of the environment, the advertised product (movie, CD, game, etc.) has become a vital part of the content an audience is considering, weaving itself into each individual’s experience in a unique way.
“We believe all advertising, to be successful, needs to think about marketing within the context of a consumer’s day by telling a story that is entertaining, informative and experiential, but more important, relevant,” comments Marrs. “The Internet is a great media to serve as a ‘hub’ for these integrated efforts.”
Entertainment Advertising Becomes Part of a “Flow Experience”
Branding traditionally has been a "lean back" experience, a passive state of being awash in moods and tones tied to sound, motion, and images that all work in concert to elicit an emotional response from an audience that will connect with a given product or service.
Direct response has traditionally been more of a "lean forward" experience, especially in the online space, where an audience is asked to submit actively to a call to action.
Entertainment product (and perhaps all product for that matter) is moving towards becoming part of a user’s “flow experience” through a kind of “engagement branding” -- bringing the ideas of branding and responding together, allowing for the rhetorical exercise of convincing an individual that by interacting with a given product or service that individual will alter his or her relationship with the world around him or her in a positive, meaningful way and allow the person to satisfy that constructed need within the confines of the medium itself.
“Integrated advertising campaigns seem to be most effective for successful Web stories. Consumers do not ‘live’ and consume a single media,” concludes Marrs of Brand Entertainment Studios. “They’re exposed all day long to various forms of media. The true Web success stories come from those companies that understand how to communicate to a consumer throughout the day in a consistent and relevant way.”
In Search of the Great Online Buzz
By Ty Braswell
Ty Braswell is the former vice president of new media for Virgin Records, where he managed the online campaigns for a range of artists including Lenny Kravitz and Janet Jackson. During his tenure at Virgin, he created new online models for partnerships between brands and record labels. He is now senior strategist for iMedia Strategy, the new division of iMedia Communications providing industry-wide thinking that serves to advance the business of interactive marketing & advertising.
What is buzz?
For the online marketer, the word buzz represents an elusive search to find the perfect mix of marketing elements that will deliver a philosopher’s stone of golden results.
To help those hunting for the elusive online buzz, iMedia will publish a story each month spotlighting a great online campaign. I’ll be responsible for taking my best shot at analyzing what created the magic so you can have a better chance at duplicating its success. Drawing upon my previous experience at Virgin Records, my focus will be online campaigns in music, film, and TV that built their strategy on branded entertainment. I’ll interview a featured marketer and explore how their campaigns and efforts relate to the rest of the online marketing/advertising world.
To create a framework for the ongoing discussion, here is my theory of what creates a buzz:
Buzz Target
Developing an online buzz requires capturing the attention of folks I call “Key Multipliers.” They hunt for the next cool thing, the newest gadget, new music/films, political commentary, scandalous gossip, etc. Key Multipliers’ social status is connected to finding something really cool and passing the buzz on to their friends. They are the nitro that drives word-of-mouth. They find new stuff; bring it to their not-so-online friends, and this role as “buzzmeister” keeps them popular in their peer group. Key Multipliers are defined by what they hunt. It’s not just teens watching MTV. A soccer mom who scours the Web for budget vacations maintains her social status (as a Key Multiplier) at her monthly book club by being her group’s travel expert.
As the Internet evolves as the most efficient medium for identifying and communicating to key multipliers, so do the opportunities for marketers.
Key Elements
Online buzz built upon branded entertainment is best created via the synergy of four elements:
Paid Online Advertising: A clever, targeted and integrated online media plan.
Content Bartered Advertising: Exclusive, fresh and exciting content that stimulates Key Multipliers to send it to all their friends.
Viral Marketing: The hot content is wrapped in a format that makes it easy to send to others, and easy to track for the marketer.
Press coverage: The buzz on the campaign becomes so successful, journalists write about the phenomenon as it is occurring.
Timing is Critical
The Key Multiplier is motivated in the hunt by the reward of being the first person to discover the content. The online campaign has to be the first to premiere the content, not a slave to the tired and traditional approach of reducing the online strategy as a subset and afterthought. Launching the online campaign as the first medium in the marketing plan insures the best shot at creating the online buzz. The effect on the TV or radio campaign is minimal if the branded content is premiered on the Internet, but it greatly reduces the online campaign’s effectiveness if the content has been recycled after the initial exposure on television or radio.
Quantification Converts the Naysayer
The architecture of the online campaign needs a clear approach to quantifying the reach and scope of the online buzz. Quantification generates the credibility that counterbalances the inherent hype during the manufacturing of the buzz. It is the weapon against the closed and doubting mind of the naysayer—usually the C-level executive who has the ultimate authority to green light the campaign for buzz.
A New Paradigm
A well-built online campaign to generate buzz can provide a new paradigm for partnerships between brands and entertainment companies. Now that broadband is available to 50 million workers daily and 20 million homes 24/7, the Internet is maturing into a reliable advertising medium. Bold ideas that might appear too risky to be initially launched via TV can be tested with key multipliers online; then expanded to an integrated campaign to TV, radio and print. Creating partnerships between mega-corporations is often easier when driven by the online counterparts since this is where the risk-takers are found in today’s corporations.
The Acronym
In the spirit of online culture, you can’t have a new idea without an acronym. So my moniker for this nitro buzz cocktail is QEIB (pronounced: kweeb):
Quantifiable
Early
Internet
Buzz
By Ty Braswell
Ty Braswell is the former vice president of new media for Virgin Records, where he managed the online campaigns for a range of artists including Lenny Kravitz and Janet Jackson. During his tenure at Virgin, he created new online models for partnerships between brands and record labels. He is now senior strategist for iMedia Strategy, the new division of iMedia Communications providing industry-wide thinking that serves to advance the business of interactive marketing & advertising.
What is buzz?
For the online marketer, the word buzz represents an elusive search to find the perfect mix of marketing elements that will deliver a philosopher’s stone of golden results.
To help those hunting for the elusive online buzz, iMedia will publish a story each month spotlighting a great online campaign. I’ll be responsible for taking my best shot at analyzing what created the magic so you can have a better chance at duplicating its success. Drawing upon my previous experience at Virgin Records, my focus will be online campaigns in music, film, and TV that built their strategy on branded entertainment. I’ll interview a featured marketer and explore how their campaigns and efforts relate to the rest of the online marketing/advertising world.
To create a framework for the ongoing discussion, here is my theory of what creates a buzz:
Buzz Target
Developing an online buzz requires capturing the attention of folks I call “Key Multipliers.” They hunt for the next cool thing, the newest gadget, new music/films, political commentary, scandalous gossip, etc. Key Multipliers’ social status is connected to finding something really cool and passing the buzz on to their friends. They are the nitro that drives word-of-mouth. They find new stuff; bring it to their not-so-online friends, and this role as “buzzmeister” keeps them popular in their peer group. Key Multipliers are defined by what they hunt. It’s not just teens watching MTV. A soccer mom who scours the Web for budget vacations maintains her social status (as a Key Multiplier) at her monthly book club by being her group’s travel expert.
As the Internet evolves as the most efficient medium for identifying and communicating to key multipliers, so do the opportunities for marketers.
Key Elements
Online buzz built upon branded entertainment is best created via the synergy of four elements:
Paid Online Advertising: A clever, targeted and integrated online media plan.
Content Bartered Advertising: Exclusive, fresh and exciting content that stimulates Key Multipliers to send it to all their friends.
Viral Marketing: The hot content is wrapped in a format that makes it easy to send to others, and easy to track for the marketer.
Press coverage: The buzz on the campaign becomes so successful, journalists write about the phenomenon as it is occurring.
Timing is Critical
The Key Multiplier is motivated in the hunt by the reward of being the first person to discover the content. The online campaign has to be the first to premiere the content, not a slave to the tired and traditional approach of reducing the online strategy as a subset and afterthought. Launching the online campaign as the first medium in the marketing plan insures the best shot at creating the online buzz. The effect on the TV or radio campaign is minimal if the branded content is premiered on the Internet, but it greatly reduces the online campaign’s effectiveness if the content has been recycled after the initial exposure on television or radio.
Quantification Converts the Naysayer
The architecture of the online campaign needs a clear approach to quantifying the reach and scope of the online buzz. Quantification generates the credibility that counterbalances the inherent hype during the manufacturing of the buzz. It is the weapon against the closed and doubting mind of the naysayer—usually the C-level executive who has the ultimate authority to green light the campaign for buzz.
A New Paradigm
A well-built online campaign to generate buzz can provide a new paradigm for partnerships between brands and entertainment companies. Now that broadband is available to 50 million workers daily and 20 million homes 24/7, the Internet is maturing into a reliable advertising medium. Bold ideas that might appear too risky to be initially launched via TV can be tested with key multipliers online; then expanded to an integrated campaign to TV, radio and print. Creating partnerships between mega-corporations is often easier when driven by the online counterparts since this is where the risk-takers are found in today’s corporations.
The Acronym
In the spirit of online culture, you can’t have a new idea without an acronym. So my moniker for this nitro buzz cocktail is QEIB (pronounced: kweeb):
Quantifiable
Early
Internet
Buzz
Unicast Finds Entertainment Success
Unicast reported today that its new Full Screen Superstitial is finding traction among entertainment brands. EarthQuake Media /Glow Interactive and itraffic are among the first to launch Full Screen Superstitial campaigns for their Entertainment-sector clients. HBO’s Project Greenlight campaign was lead by Earthquake Media with creative execution by its sister agency, Glow Interactive. itraffic (San Francisco) created FOX’s Paradise Hotel campaign and AGENCY.COM’s online marketing arm, itraffic (New York) has also launched campaigns. “These new ad formats allow us to take our creative work a step further,� said Blair Shapiro, VP Creative, itraffic. “The full screen Superstitial gives us an unprecedented palate that enables us to create campaigns that have the emotional appeal of television along with the interactivity and real-time response which characterize the Internet. As important, from a behavioral perspective transitional advertising replicates the [consumer] experience in other media, ensuring that a receptive viewer will be exposed to our message. It’s a win-win for us and our clients.�
Unicast reported today that its new Full Screen Superstitial is finding traction among entertainment brands. EarthQuake Media /Glow Interactive and itraffic are among the first to launch Full Screen Superstitial campaigns for their Entertainment-sector clients. HBO’s Project Greenlight campaign was lead by Earthquake Media with creative execution by its sister agency, Glow Interactive. itraffic (San Francisco) created FOX’s Paradise Hotel campaign and AGENCY.COM’s online marketing arm, itraffic (New York) has also launched campaigns. “These new ad formats allow us to take our creative work a step further,� said Blair Shapiro, VP Creative, itraffic. “The full screen Superstitial gives us an unprecedented palate that enables us to create campaigns that have the emotional appeal of television along with the interactivity and real-time response which characterize the Internet. As important, from a behavioral perspective transitional advertising replicates the [consumer] experience in other media, ensuring that a receptive viewer will be exposed to our message. It’s a win-win for us and our clients.�
Wallpaper As Interactive Ad Vehicle
A new software program from ScreenTime Media gives marketers a fresh strategy for promoting their products, services and corporate identity on customers' computers. The program, called SWF Desktop, makes it possible to quickly create branded computer wallpaper with dynamic updating capabilities that can be used to deliver new product announcements, promotions and other information directly to users' desktop screens on a regular basis. The wallpaper's presence on the desktop allows marketers to deliver multiple impressions every day. End users can download the wallpaper from a marketer's website and use it to personalize their PCs, while marketers can continually refresh the content. Dynamic components can range from new product information to coupons, special offers, event calendars, photos, and buttons allowing users to order merchandise or link directly to a site. This interactivity is provided by SWF Desktop's industry-first ability to easily and reliably convert Macromedia Flash or Swish .swf files to wallpaper. ScreenTime Media is used by companies including Intel, IBM, Paramount Pictures, Disney, Chiat Day, Ford and Mercedes.
A new software program from ScreenTime Media gives marketers a fresh strategy for promoting their products, services and corporate identity on customers' computers. The program, called SWF Desktop, makes it possible to quickly create branded computer wallpaper with dynamic updating capabilities that can be used to deliver new product announcements, promotions and other information directly to users' desktop screens on a regular basis. The wallpaper's presence on the desktop allows marketers to deliver multiple impressions every day. End users can download the wallpaper from a marketer's website and use it to personalize their PCs, while marketers can continually refresh the content. Dynamic components can range from new product information to coupons, special offers, event calendars, photos, and buttons allowing users to order merchandise or link directly to a site. This interactivity is provided by SWF Desktop's industry-first ability to easily and reliably convert Macromedia Flash or Swish .swf files to wallpaper. ScreenTime Media is used by companies including Intel, IBM, Paramount Pictures, Disney, Chiat Day, Ford and Mercedes.
Offer Product Samples/Coupons
By Joseph Jaffe
Someone once told me that people use the Internet for three primary reasons: to be informed, to purchase and to save. (I’ve since added a few more to this list such as to be entertained, to connect, and to communicate.) Clearly the person who uttered this phrase was coming from a transaction-centric perspective and for the purposes of this week’s article, I’m going to focus on the roadmap that takes us from consideration to purchase via trial.
I had another interesting conversation the other day about the seismic disconnect between the way marketers advertise and the way consumers buy. The category in question was bottled water and the brand was Dasani.
Atop the ivory tower that is marketing, we extol the virtues of power behavioral states such as awareness, consideration, preference, trial and loyalty. These terms are critical to those who request and acquire marketing budgets, but essentially meaningless to consumers who ultimately end up paying for them.
Here’s an example: Why did I purchase a bottle of Dasani water yesterday? Was it because of the breakthrough advertising? To be honest, I couldn’t begin to tell you what a Dasani 30-second spot looks, sounds or smells like. Was it the brand reinforcement that ultimately led to adamant insistence on my part? Hardly. In fact, it was the 90-degree temperature and the Coke machine that just happened to carry one – and only one – brand of bottled water: Dasani.
The point simply being that location, location, location, combined with convenience and an element of impulsivity is more likely to end up resulting in a purchase than any amount of product-focused offer-based advertising.
And then there’s trial. Some believe we’re returning to a world in which content and product dominates and brand does not. Putting it slightly differently, you can get everyone in the world to try your product once (read: through advertising), but if the experience is less than satisfactory, the likelihood of a repeat purchase would be as thirst quenching as sand.
But life is a little more complicated than bottled water. All things being equal, let’s assume that all products are equal. In a world peppered with rabbit-like explosive choice, how does a marketer entice, incent or engage a consumer to the point of trial?
“Coupons are a tried-and-true sales incentive,” says Jeff Weitzman, COO of Coupons, Inc., “but what makes them particularly effective online is the combination of the incentive with the ability to collect data and track behavior offline. A small incentive can generate enough momentum to get consumers to provide a wealth of information.”
He provides this example for Colgate Simply White gel (the initial page and the sign-in form).
In this instance, traffic to the site is driven by both online and offline media. Once a consumer prints the coupon, having provided contact info and opting in, Colgate is then able to:
Follow up with those who printed but didn’t redeem the offer by providing them with additional incentives
Send an additional offer, when it is time to “whiten” again, to those who did redeem the product.
Cross-sell other Colgate products, for example encouraging the “newly whitened” to use a Colgate toothpaste to keep that new smile at its best.
“Time and again, technologies that have been truly successful are those that not only allowed users to improve on what they could previously do, but do new things that weren’t possible or feasible before,” says Dadi Akhavan, president of e-centives. “The best practice in Internet couponing is NOT to take what’s done in the physical world – like Sunday newspaper coupons – and just mimic it online. Instead, the real benefit comes from doing it better.”
The ability to attach a direct means of fulfillment to a piece of advertising communications is exactly the kind of missing link that can bridge intent to purchase with purchase itself. The distance between these two stages is probably best expressed by the phrase, “I’ll go on that diet tomorrow.”
Calling toll-free numbers is so 20th century.
Relying on memory is risky business.
A click of a TiVo remote or mouse, however, is effortless. More importantly, it is a moment of truth in which a consumer can instantaneously weave interest into action, so much so that Rumplestiltskin himself could not have been more proud.
Akhavan submits Reckitt Benckiser’s online consumer relationship marketing program as one stellar example. Reckitt Benckiser used online couponing to improve its promotional targeting and minimize the cost of brand switching. Through a combination of multiple brand microsites and a holistic monthly e-newsletter called HomeSolutionsNews, the CPG company delivered targeted online coupons to its consumer database. Tracking online interactions helped it close the loop to track actual in-store purchases.
Weitzman suggests that this is one best practice that is not only close to the hearts of traditional CPG marketers, but more importantly is the key to leveraging several other leading Interactive Best Practices. Think of it as the key to the door if you will. Driving Offline Sales, Purchase Intent, Rewarding Interest with Immediate Fulfillment, Viral Marketing and Commanding Awareness with cross-media blitz are just some of them.
In the arena of rewarding interest through the immediate fulfillment of a coupon, Weitzman offers up an example for a recent Maybelline product introduction. A rich-media advertisement captured consumer interest and an instant coupon rewarded that interest right away.
Weitzman also offers up these Words of Wisdom:
Follow Up! If a consumer asks for more info, provide it!
Continue the dialogue and keep watching for interest.
If your goal is information, don’t muddy the waters! A free product coupon is sure to generate lots of units moved, but are you learning anything other than that you can successfully give your product away? “Freebies” often hit offer-seekers, not product-seekers.
Don’t do it yourself! Particularly when it comes to measurability, control and fraud detection.
Ironically coupons have been embraced most by the very industries that have tended to lag behind other verticals in terms of their adoption of the Internet as a marketing and advertising medium. But even within the CPG space, there is still some reticence towards adopting this best practice.
Akhavan attributes this to three misconceptions:
1) the limited reach of the Web
2) the concern about online coupon fraud
3) the unprofitable “coupon junkies” who will naturally look to the Internet for a good deal.
In response: Reach-myopia ignores more important variables such as targeting, measurement and profitability. Secondly, many e-coupon fraud detection and prevention systems are now tighter than their offline equivalents. And finally, habitual coupon junkies are habitual coupon junkies, whether online or offline.
And if you’re still not convinced, consider the fact that more than eight out of 10 Americans use coupons when grocery shopping. Now who’s myopic?
By Joseph Jaffe
Someone once told me that people use the Internet for three primary reasons: to be informed, to purchase and to save. (I’ve since added a few more to this list such as to be entertained, to connect, and to communicate.) Clearly the person who uttered this phrase was coming from a transaction-centric perspective and for the purposes of this week’s article, I’m going to focus on the roadmap that takes us from consideration to purchase via trial.
I had another interesting conversation the other day about the seismic disconnect between the way marketers advertise and the way consumers buy. The category in question was bottled water and the brand was Dasani.
Atop the ivory tower that is marketing, we extol the virtues of power behavioral states such as awareness, consideration, preference, trial and loyalty. These terms are critical to those who request and acquire marketing budgets, but essentially meaningless to consumers who ultimately end up paying for them.
Here’s an example: Why did I purchase a bottle of Dasani water yesterday? Was it because of the breakthrough advertising? To be honest, I couldn’t begin to tell you what a Dasani 30-second spot looks, sounds or smells like. Was it the brand reinforcement that ultimately led to adamant insistence on my part? Hardly. In fact, it was the 90-degree temperature and the Coke machine that just happened to carry one – and only one – brand of bottled water: Dasani.
The point simply being that location, location, location, combined with convenience and an element of impulsivity is more likely to end up resulting in a purchase than any amount of product-focused offer-based advertising.
And then there’s trial. Some believe we’re returning to a world in which content and product dominates and brand does not. Putting it slightly differently, you can get everyone in the world to try your product once (read: through advertising), but if the experience is less than satisfactory, the likelihood of a repeat purchase would be as thirst quenching as sand.
But life is a little more complicated than bottled water. All things being equal, let’s assume that all products are equal. In a world peppered with rabbit-like explosive choice, how does a marketer entice, incent or engage a consumer to the point of trial?
“Coupons are a tried-and-true sales incentive,” says Jeff Weitzman, COO of Coupons, Inc., “but what makes them particularly effective online is the combination of the incentive with the ability to collect data and track behavior offline. A small incentive can generate enough momentum to get consumers to provide a wealth of information.”
He provides this example for Colgate Simply White gel (the initial page and the sign-in form).
In this instance, traffic to the site is driven by both online and offline media. Once a consumer prints the coupon, having provided contact info and opting in, Colgate is then able to:
Follow up with those who printed but didn’t redeem the offer by providing them with additional incentives
Send an additional offer, when it is time to “whiten” again, to those who did redeem the product.
Cross-sell other Colgate products, for example encouraging the “newly whitened” to use a Colgate toothpaste to keep that new smile at its best.
“Time and again, technologies that have been truly successful are those that not only allowed users to improve on what they could previously do, but do new things that weren’t possible or feasible before,” says Dadi Akhavan, president of e-centives. “The best practice in Internet couponing is NOT to take what’s done in the physical world – like Sunday newspaper coupons – and just mimic it online. Instead, the real benefit comes from doing it better.”
The ability to attach a direct means of fulfillment to a piece of advertising communications is exactly the kind of missing link that can bridge intent to purchase with purchase itself. The distance between these two stages is probably best expressed by the phrase, “I’ll go on that diet tomorrow.”
Calling toll-free numbers is so 20th century.
Relying on memory is risky business.
A click of a TiVo remote or mouse, however, is effortless. More importantly, it is a moment of truth in which a consumer can instantaneously weave interest into action, so much so that Rumplestiltskin himself could not have been more proud.
Akhavan submits Reckitt Benckiser’s online consumer relationship marketing program as one stellar example. Reckitt Benckiser used online couponing to improve its promotional targeting and minimize the cost of brand switching. Through a combination of multiple brand microsites and a holistic monthly e-newsletter called HomeSolutionsNews, the CPG company delivered targeted online coupons to its consumer database. Tracking online interactions helped it close the loop to track actual in-store purchases.
Weitzman suggests that this is one best practice that is not only close to the hearts of traditional CPG marketers, but more importantly is the key to leveraging several other leading Interactive Best Practices. Think of it as the key to the door if you will. Driving Offline Sales, Purchase Intent, Rewarding Interest with Immediate Fulfillment, Viral Marketing and Commanding Awareness with cross-media blitz are just some of them.
In the arena of rewarding interest through the immediate fulfillment of a coupon, Weitzman offers up an example for a recent Maybelline product introduction. A rich-media advertisement captured consumer interest and an instant coupon rewarded that interest right away.
Weitzman also offers up these Words of Wisdom:
Follow Up! If a consumer asks for more info, provide it!
Continue the dialogue and keep watching for interest.
If your goal is information, don’t muddy the waters! A free product coupon is sure to generate lots of units moved, but are you learning anything other than that you can successfully give your product away? “Freebies” often hit offer-seekers, not product-seekers.
Don’t do it yourself! Particularly when it comes to measurability, control and fraud detection.
Ironically coupons have been embraced most by the very industries that have tended to lag behind other verticals in terms of their adoption of the Internet as a marketing and advertising medium. But even within the CPG space, there is still some reticence towards adopting this best practice.
Akhavan attributes this to three misconceptions:
1) the limited reach of the Web
2) the concern about online coupon fraud
3) the unprofitable “coupon junkies” who will naturally look to the Internet for a good deal.
In response: Reach-myopia ignores more important variables such as targeting, measurement and profitability. Secondly, many e-coupon fraud detection and prevention systems are now tighter than their offline equivalents. And finally, habitual coupon junkies are habitual coupon junkies, whether online or offline.
And if you’re still not convinced, consider the fact that more than eight out of 10 Americans use coupons when grocery shopping. Now who’s myopic?
Tracking Results on a Budget
BY Heidi Anderson
Small businesses have it rough. When it comes to e-mail marketing, they typically don't have the resources of larger companies. Their budget constraints affect all aspects of a campaign, from building an opt-in mailing list to developing the creative and tracking its results. It's the last piece of the campaign I'll focus on today.
American Meadows supplies flower seeds throughout North America. It began as a tourist attraction in the 1980s, but the seed catalog quickly became the main focus. As the Internet took off, so did American Meadows' online presence, and the company now relies solely on the Internet for its advertising. Of course, e-mail marketing is a key part of that.
At first, American Meadows used server logs to track its e-mail marketing efforts. Founder Ray Allen would look at the real-time hourly stats and could see when a spike in traffic occurred after sending out a mailing.
"I could see the browser traffic, but that's all I knew," Allen says. "The quality of the spike and the ability to quantitatively measure the traffic wasn't there, and that wasn't good enough."
So he invested in a service called ConversionRuler.com, a subscription-based performance-tracking reporting service. Allen now uses it to track each of his seasonal newsletters and weekly offers. With the data he has gathered via the ConversionRuler tool, he applies what he has learned to achieve better results from future campaigns. Here's some of what Allen has discovered:
Day of week. A lot of readers have asked me about the best day to send a mailing. My response is it depends upon your business. If you're in the automotive business and want to drive customers to your real-world dealership, you may want to send out a mailing just before the weekend.
The best way to know when to send a mailing, of course, is to track your campaigns. Since the start of this year, American Meadows has found the top six performing e-mail messages have all gone out on either a Tuesday or a Wednesday. Logically, the company now sends nearly all its offers early in the week.
Time of day. Allen found almost all their responses are in the middle of the day, around the lunch hour. Most likely, people at work are taking a break and ordering wildflower seeds. OK, no big surprise. But that's one reason why companies should track mailings. Now that Allen has eliminated this variable, he can make sure his servers are able to handle heavy midday traffic. He can instead focus on other campaign aspects.
Free shipping. A third of the top-performing offers include free shipping, which American Meadows proffers several times a year. Allen says that seems to be the only real incentive that can change offer response, other than (of course) the offer itself.
Top of the fold. The American Meadows offers are all fairly simple HTML mailings, with a colorful photograph at the top followed by text. The designer typically puts three links throughout the mailing, and Allen has found more than 70 percent of recipients will click the first link. "As a copywriter, you want to force them to read it, but that doesn't work," he says. He has also noticed length of the mailing doesn't make much difference. My guess is by the first link either readers are hooked or not interested, so what's beyond the top of the e-mail doesn't matter much.
Miscellaneous. Allen didn't have quantitative data to share with me, but he did say he was surprised by how long some recipients kept mailings in their inboxes. Allen now knows some individuals save mailings and order seeds weeks or months after the mailing. Before using ConversionRuler, he was unable to tie a small jump in orders to a particular mailing.
These are just a few of the results Allen has either confirmed or learned by using the tracking service. He notes ConversionRuler starts at $19.99 a month and goes up in price based on volume. Other companies offering similar services include Clicklab, LISTSERV Maestro, and Site Stats.
For small businesses that haven't tracked e-mail marketing campaigns because it seemed too expensive, investigate tracking software and service options. The knowledge you gain may be well worth the investment.
BY Heidi Anderson
Small businesses have it rough. When it comes to e-mail marketing, they typically don't have the resources of larger companies. Their budget constraints affect all aspects of a campaign, from building an opt-in mailing list to developing the creative and tracking its results. It's the last piece of the campaign I'll focus on today.
American Meadows supplies flower seeds throughout North America. It began as a tourist attraction in the 1980s, but the seed catalog quickly became the main focus. As the Internet took off, so did American Meadows' online presence, and the company now relies solely on the Internet for its advertising. Of course, e-mail marketing is a key part of that.
At first, American Meadows used server logs to track its e-mail marketing efforts. Founder Ray Allen would look at the real-time hourly stats and could see when a spike in traffic occurred after sending out a mailing.
"I could see the browser traffic, but that's all I knew," Allen says. "The quality of the spike and the ability to quantitatively measure the traffic wasn't there, and that wasn't good enough."
So he invested in a service called ConversionRuler.com, a subscription-based performance-tracking reporting service. Allen now uses it to track each of his seasonal newsletters and weekly offers. With the data he has gathered via the ConversionRuler tool, he applies what he has learned to achieve better results from future campaigns. Here's some of what Allen has discovered:
Day of week. A lot of readers have asked me about the best day to send a mailing. My response is it depends upon your business. If you're in the automotive business and want to drive customers to your real-world dealership, you may want to send out a mailing just before the weekend.
The best way to know when to send a mailing, of course, is to track your campaigns. Since the start of this year, American Meadows has found the top six performing e-mail messages have all gone out on either a Tuesday or a Wednesday. Logically, the company now sends nearly all its offers early in the week.
Time of day. Allen found almost all their responses are in the middle of the day, around the lunch hour. Most likely, people at work are taking a break and ordering wildflower seeds. OK, no big surprise. But that's one reason why companies should track mailings. Now that Allen has eliminated this variable, he can make sure his servers are able to handle heavy midday traffic. He can instead focus on other campaign aspects.
Free shipping. A third of the top-performing offers include free shipping, which American Meadows proffers several times a year. Allen says that seems to be the only real incentive that can change offer response, other than (of course) the offer itself.
Top of the fold. The American Meadows offers are all fairly simple HTML mailings, with a colorful photograph at the top followed by text. The designer typically puts three links throughout the mailing, and Allen has found more than 70 percent of recipients will click the first link. "As a copywriter, you want to force them to read it, but that doesn't work," he says. He has also noticed length of the mailing doesn't make much difference. My guess is by the first link either readers are hooked or not interested, so what's beyond the top of the e-mail doesn't matter much.
Miscellaneous. Allen didn't have quantitative data to share with me, but he did say he was surprised by how long some recipients kept mailings in their inboxes. Allen now knows some individuals save mailings and order seeds weeks or months after the mailing. Before using ConversionRuler, he was unable to tie a small jump in orders to a particular mailing.
These are just a few of the results Allen has either confirmed or learned by using the tracking service. He notes ConversionRuler starts at $19.99 a month and goes up in price based on volume. Other companies offering similar services include Clicklab, LISTSERV Maestro, and Site Stats.
For small businesses that haven't tracked e-mail marketing campaigns because it seemed too expensive, investigate tracking software and service options. The knowledge you gain may be well worth the investment.
Thursday
New Eyeblaster version
Motif or no Motif, Eyeblaster is sticking to its familiar schedule of releasing a new version of its rich media platform once every quarter. Today brought the launch of the ninth version - Eyeblaster 5.3 - which boasts a number of significant enhancements, including the ability to serve larger file-sizes of up to one megabyte.
And they already have AOL UK signed up to use the new technology to launch a 1 MB rich-media ad for its AOL Music Sessions@AOL this week, which may just be the coolest ad I've seen online this month. (Here's a sneak peak at the demo.)
The ad, using Eyeblaster's expandable banner ad format, will combine music video segments from various artists in a fast-moving Flash MX-based environment upon user interaction. The 1 MB limit can be used for Flash files in all seven Eyeblaster ad formats, including floating ad, commercial break, interstitial window ad, and full-page overlay formats.
Eyeblaster says that web publishers who have stayed away from ads with large file sizes in the past have often done so as a result of concerns about their affect on website usability, as well as poor experiences with older video streaming methods. Eyeblaster aims to alleviate those concerns by combining best-of-breed solutions in one platform, which results in surprising creative power and a user-friendly viewing experience.
According to Nielsen//NetRatings' AdRelevance service, Eyeblaster is the number one branded rich media platform in the industry, and represents more ad campaign impressions than any other branded rich media technology provider.
Motif or no Motif, Eyeblaster is sticking to its familiar schedule of releasing a new version of its rich media platform once every quarter. Today brought the launch of the ninth version - Eyeblaster 5.3 - which boasts a number of significant enhancements, including the ability to serve larger file-sizes of up to one megabyte.
And they already have AOL UK signed up to use the new technology to launch a 1 MB rich-media ad for its AOL Music Sessions@AOL this week, which may just be the coolest ad I've seen online this month. (Here's a sneak peak at the demo.)
The ad, using Eyeblaster's expandable banner ad format, will combine music video segments from various artists in a fast-moving Flash MX-based environment upon user interaction. The 1 MB limit can be used for Flash files in all seven Eyeblaster ad formats, including floating ad, commercial break, interstitial window ad, and full-page overlay formats.
Eyeblaster says that web publishers who have stayed away from ads with large file sizes in the past have often done so as a result of concerns about their affect on website usability, as well as poor experiences with older video streaming methods. Eyeblaster aims to alleviate those concerns by combining best-of-breed solutions in one platform, which results in surprising creative power and a user-friendly viewing experience.
According to Nielsen//NetRatings' AdRelevance service, Eyeblaster is the number one branded rich media platform in the industry, and represents more ad campaign impressions than any other branded rich media technology provider.
Wednesday
Forrester Research Projects US Ecommerce To Hit Nearly $230 Billion In 2008
Business Editors/High-Tech Writers
Increasing Online Shopper Base And Surges In New Product Categories Drive Online Retail Sales.
While offline retail sales continue to struggle, online retail will grow at a steady 19 percent year-over-year growth rate, from $95.7 billion in 2003 to $229.9 billion in 2008, according to a new report from Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR). Most significant, online retail sales will account for 10 percent of total US retail sales by 2008. Forrester's "US eCommerce Overview: 2003 To 2008" finds that a growing online consumer base, increases in new product categories, and efforts by online retailers to optimize online shopping experiences will spark significant growth over the next five years.
Forrester predicts that nearly 5 million new US households will shop online in each of the next five years, totaling 63 million US online shopping households in 2008. Additionally, consumers will tap into product categories that historically have seen insignificant online growth. For the next five years, food and beverage, sporting goods, and home goods will grow the fastest, outpacing more traditional online categories like books and travel. With Safeway expanding into new markets and online grocers like Peapod and FreshDirect continuing to make strides, Forrester projects the most dramatic growth in the food and beverage category, with sales increasing from $3.7 billion to $17.4 billion over the next five years. Sporting goods, which have found a niche in the used goods market, are predicted to grow from $1.7 billion to $6 billion, with nearly a third of sales coming from used products. Conversely, books, which generated 14% of US eCommerce sales in 2000, will fall to 3% of total sales over the next five years.
"Although we've seen eCommerce growth begin to slow over the past several years, online retail continues to grow and mature," said Carrie Johnson, senior analyst at Forrester. "We are seeing considerable growth with products that have taken longer to gain traction with consumers. Today, online shoppers are doing more than buying books and securing travel plans."
As online consumers' shopping preferences are evolving, online retailers are investing more heavily in site design and usability testing in an effort to create optimal shopping experiences for their customers. Today, 84% of the top 92 eCommerce sites offer zoom options for viewing products online, and retailers like Sears and Office Depot offer Spanish-language sites to better serve their Hispanic shoppers. As a result of site improvements, online conversion rates have increased.
The research mentioned in this press release is available to Forrester WholeView(TM) clients and can be found through www.forrester.com.
Business Editors/High-Tech Writers
Increasing Online Shopper Base And Surges In New Product Categories Drive Online Retail Sales.
While offline retail sales continue to struggle, online retail will grow at a steady 19 percent year-over-year growth rate, from $95.7 billion in 2003 to $229.9 billion in 2008, according to a new report from Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR). Most significant, online retail sales will account for 10 percent of total US retail sales by 2008. Forrester's "US eCommerce Overview: 2003 To 2008" finds that a growing online consumer base, increases in new product categories, and efforts by online retailers to optimize online shopping experiences will spark significant growth over the next five years.
Forrester predicts that nearly 5 million new US households will shop online in each of the next five years, totaling 63 million US online shopping households in 2008. Additionally, consumers will tap into product categories that historically have seen insignificant online growth. For the next five years, food and beverage, sporting goods, and home goods will grow the fastest, outpacing more traditional online categories like books and travel. With Safeway expanding into new markets and online grocers like Peapod and FreshDirect continuing to make strides, Forrester projects the most dramatic growth in the food and beverage category, with sales increasing from $3.7 billion to $17.4 billion over the next five years. Sporting goods, which have found a niche in the used goods market, are predicted to grow from $1.7 billion to $6 billion, with nearly a third of sales coming from used products. Conversely, books, which generated 14% of US eCommerce sales in 2000, will fall to 3% of total sales over the next five years.
"Although we've seen eCommerce growth begin to slow over the past several years, online retail continues to grow and mature," said Carrie Johnson, senior analyst at Forrester. "We are seeing considerable growth with products that have taken longer to gain traction with consumers. Today, online shoppers are doing more than buying books and securing travel plans."
As online consumers' shopping preferences are evolving, online retailers are investing more heavily in site design and usability testing in an effort to create optimal shopping experiences for their customers. Today, 84% of the top 92 eCommerce sites offer zoom options for viewing products online, and retailers like Sears and Office Depot offer Spanish-language sites to better serve their Hispanic shoppers. As a result of site improvements, online conversion rates have increased.
The research mentioned in this press release is available to Forrester WholeView(TM) clients and can be found through www.forrester.com.
Doubleclick Signs Host Of New Customers
DoubleClick Inc. on Monday said that several major brands including Buy.com, Carrot Ink, Dixons Group and Verio have turned to DoubleClick for its analytics solution in the last several months. Additional brand-name clients already using the SiteAdvance(tm) product, including Crate and Barrel, Flax Art & Design and J. Jill, recently renewed their contracts. In total, in the past two quarters, 25 installations of SiteAdvance were completed. SiteAdvance, a hosted, website measurement and analysis solution designed for online merchants, enables business decision-makers to understand the interaction between marketing programs, site traffic and online transactions, and provides actionable information to users to help them improve their online commerce results. In addition, SiteAdvance is now fully integrated into DoubleClick's email and online advertising solutions, DARTmail and DART for Advertisers.
"DoubeClick's analytics solution has enabled us to gain insight into the usability of our sites," said Steve Borges, Director of Advertising and Direct Businesses, Dixons Group. "It has allowed us to respond more quickly to out-of-stock issues and configure product bundles to meet customer demand. In addition, it has helped us to improve the functionality of our search tool and guided our web development strategy."
DoubleClick Inc. on Monday said that several major brands including Buy.com, Carrot Ink, Dixons Group and Verio have turned to DoubleClick for its analytics solution in the last several months. Additional brand-name clients already using the SiteAdvance(tm) product, including Crate and Barrel, Flax Art & Design and J. Jill, recently renewed their contracts. In total, in the past two quarters, 25 installations of SiteAdvance were completed. SiteAdvance, a hosted, website measurement and analysis solution designed for online merchants, enables business decision-makers to understand the interaction between marketing programs, site traffic and online transactions, and provides actionable information to users to help them improve their online commerce results. In addition, SiteAdvance is now fully integrated into DoubleClick's email and online advertising solutions, DARTmail and DART for Advertisers.
"DoubeClick's analytics solution has enabled us to gain insight into the usability of our sites," said Steve Borges, Director of Advertising and Direct Businesses, Dixons Group. "It has allowed us to respond more quickly to out-of-stock issues and configure product bundles to meet customer demand. In addition, it has helped us to improve the functionality of our search tool and guided our web development strategy."
Doubleclick Signs Host Of New Customers
DoubleClick Inc. on Monday said that several major brands including Buy.com, Carrot Ink, Dixons Group and Verio have turned to DoubleClick for its analytics solution in the last several months. Additional brand-name clients already using the SiteAdvance(tm) product, including Crate and Barrel, Flax Art & Design and J. Jill, recently renewed their contracts. In total, in the past two quarters, 25 installations of SiteAdvance were completed. SiteAdvance, a hosted, website measurement and analysis solution designed for online merchants, enables business decision-makers to understand the interaction between marketing programs, site traffic and online transactions, and provides actionable information to users to help them improve their online commerce results. In addition, SiteAdvance is now fully integrated into DoubleClick's email and online advertising solutions, DARTmail and DART for Advertisers.
"DoubeClick's analytics solution has enabled us to gain insight into the usability of our sites," said Steve Borges, Director of Advertising and Direct Businesses, Dixons Group. "It has allowed us to respond more quickly to out-of-stock issues and configure product bundles to meet customer demand. In addition, it has helped us to improve the functionality of our search tool and guided our web development strategy."
DoubleClick Inc. on Monday said that several major brands including Buy.com, Carrot Ink, Dixons Group and Verio have turned to DoubleClick for its analytics solution in the last several months. Additional brand-name clients already using the SiteAdvance(tm) product, including Crate and Barrel, Flax Art & Design and J. Jill, recently renewed their contracts. In total, in the past two quarters, 25 installations of SiteAdvance were completed. SiteAdvance, a hosted, website measurement and analysis solution designed for online merchants, enables business decision-makers to understand the interaction between marketing programs, site traffic and online transactions, and provides actionable information to users to help them improve their online commerce results. In addition, SiteAdvance is now fully integrated into DoubleClick's email and online advertising solutions, DARTmail and DART for Advertisers.
"DoubeClick's analytics solution has enabled us to gain insight into the usability of our sites," said Steve Borges, Director of Advertising and Direct Businesses, Dixons Group. "It has allowed us to respond more quickly to out-of-stock issues and configure product bundles to meet customer demand. In addition, it has helped us to improve the functionality of our search tool and guided our web development strategy."
This Ain't Your Daddy's Advertising: CRM and integrated marketing communications - By James D. Mangan
Industry experts contend that marketing, traditional mass media brand advertising in particular, is not working any more. This contention is nothing new. People have been buying and selling traditional advertising "on faith" for quite some time.
There is another school of thought which holds that integrated marketing communications [IMC] deployed in combination with CRM technologies has never worked better. Let's test the truth of both of these contentions.
Daddy's advertising is in big trouble with consumers
Traditional mass media advertising (a.k.a. your daddy's advertising) is suffering from a gradual, yet inevitable, process of eroding effectiveness.
It is abundantly clear that consumers are becoming resistant to one-sided, projected, mass media advertising. In terms of receptiveness, consumers are well beyond the saturation point—they are simply exposed to more advertisements in a myriad of forms in any given day than they can possibly process. The typical consumer is exposed to as many as 3000 ads every day.
Advertising filtering used to be an act of will—ignore it and it will go away. It is not necessary to conduct a statistically valid psychological study to know that 'ad fatigue' is growing. Observe, more and more sophisticated consumers are taking pro-active steps to block traditional advertising. The Federal Trade Commission reports that more than 10 million phone numbers have been registered with the federal "do-not-call" lists in the first four days of the program which kicked off in June of this year. Other psyche defense strategies are growing in popularity, including:
- pop-up ad blockers,
- sorting snail-mail next to the waste basket,
- zipping and zapping TV commercials,
- billboard bans, etc.
Consumers will pay for technology, services, alternative media and government regulations that provide relief from the onslaught.
In fairness, traditional advertising media is not dead yet. There are some very familiar media venues that involve a compelling and complimentary relationship between content and advertising. Some notable examples include professional trade and consumer fashion magazines. For millions of spectators, Super Bowl advertising is an important part of the pre-game hype and halftime entertainment. And then, there is my personal favorite, places like Times Square where outdoor advertising and urban architecture have come together to foster a unique sense of place. When it works, it works great. Nevertheless, trouble is brewing.
Second thoughts and the search for alternatives
The other irresistible force causing concern for traditional, mass-market brand advertising is simple microeconomics. What strategic choices can businesses make to compete more effectively and generate profits?
IF, let's say, there is an inherently superior marketing communications method (i.e. integrated communications) and consumers are more receptive to an interactive brand dialog using this method. Just for the sake of argument, let's say integrated communications delivers better return on investment of marketing resources. And, finally, let's say that this method can transform marketing activities into a valued service that contributes to overall product quality and differentiates the brand . . .
THEN firms deploying integrated communications would gain competitive advantage in the marketplace.
As businesses adapt to emerging customer preferences and adopt alternative marketing communications methods, it is logical to expect that allocations to marketing operations and brand intelligence grounded on CRM platforms will increase as a percentage of total marketing expenses. Alternatively, investment in traditional customer acquisition methods and mass media will be rationalized.
Certain industries were early adopters of CRM, most notably market leaders in the financial services industry (banking in particular), telecommunications and "r-e-tailers" which started with simple personalization and then began revenue generating marketing initiatives based on explicit customer preferences and/or projected interests.
Going forward, technology industry analysts foresee continued spending for CRM technologies, despite the slowdown in sales of new licenses in 2001 and 2002. It appears that the market for CRM technologies is pausing for a temporary "breather." Certainly, the recent economic downturn has a lot to do with this situation. However, the "industry chatter" suggests that other factors are equally relevant to the loss of momentum. In striving to achieve strategic advantage, the Holy Grail, some businesses ran headlong into the big, bad boogie man of every enterprise initiative. Implementation. In order to be successful, the means (i.e. the right technology) and methods (i.e. effective tactical strategies supported by operational resources) must be in place. Neither the means nor the methods will matter in the least without a strategic brand vision grounded on a customer-centric view of customer relationships.
In many instances, the technology challenges associated with CRM are not nearly as daunting as the challenge of adapting the organization. And so, while the adoption of CRM (including essential modules such as Enterprise Marketing Management, Partner Relationship Management and Sales Force Automation) may be slower than once projected, the value of these technologies is such that the outcome is inevitable.
So, what's the "big idea" behind integrated marketing communications?
Integrated marketing communications involves crafting advertising creative and media strategy to convey a compelling message to prospective customers at critical contact points as customers experience the brand and explore the value of products and brand relationships. IMC involves a customer-brand dialog. The goal: deliver the right message to the right customer at the right time. Media strategies associated with integrated communications include both paid and non-paid media, hence the compatibility of integrated marketing strategy and CRM technology.
Integrated communications overcomes the limitations of traditional brand advertising, which focuses almost exclusively on brand awareness, qualitative brand impressions, and share of mind. While instructive in measuring the effectiveness of advertising creative, these metrics can not be directly correlated to the bottom-line performance of the firm.
Lifetime value of customer relationships is the key to the profitability of many firms in many industries. In many instances, lifetime value serves to justify the initial investment in customer acquisition and identify customers with the greatest long-term potential. IMC seeks to capitalize brand relationships.
Integrated communications seeks to impact the customer experience, brand relevance if you will, shaping perceptions as customers experience the brand. With IMC, brand merges with product quality. Brand satisfaction is a function of the tangible product purchased as well as perceptions of the purchase process and on-going interactions.
Evolution of the integrated marketing practice and process
Throughout the 90s, integrated marketing initiatives were perceived as too complicated, having too many moving parts, and too labor intensive.
In order to implement an integrated communications program, marketing managers had to interact with advertising agencies and distribution channels as well as operations, including IT, and service centers. Implementation relied heavily on matrix management. Stakeholders generally owned products, not markets or customer segments. It was a tough bill to fill. They say pioneers take arrows. Well, in the 90s, most of the people practicing integrated communications looked more like porcupines than marketing professionals. Nevertheless, survivors learned important lessons and gained valuable experience.
In the era before CRM, integrated communications was an extremely blunt instrument. If you were successful at your craft, you ended up wasting fewer resources than your competitors in acquiring new customers. Politicians facing difficult decisions concerning imperfect legislation will "just hold old their nose and vote." So it was with integrated communications in the early 90s. The discipline was strategically valid, having clear benefits compared to your daddy's advertising methods, but it could have been more compelling from a business standpoint. Something was missing—closed loop marketing—the ability to transform brand intelligence into brand interaction.
The future of marketing unfolds
Over the past several years the integrated communications practice has evolved to capitalize on new CRM technologies which have enabled companies to compete more effectively and more aggressively for customer franchise. The following are four ways in which marketing methods are evolving:
One: Brand intelligence leads to brand relevance
CRM platforms based on an enterprise customer database have opened the door to brand intelligence. With CRM as an operational resource, the strategic focus shifts to understanding lifetime value of customer relationships along with the variables that can be actively managed to shape the dynamics of those relationships. Businesses craft highly targeted campaigns, down to an audience of one. Personalization is just the tip of the iceberg. Business rules drive "kinetic offers" based on expressed interests (inherent to permission marketing), purchase patterns and customer interactions, interpreted in real-time.
CRM provides the capacity to monitor and track customer interactions across a broad range of touch-points including sales, web, and service centers. As purchase deliberations intensify, firms can apply incremental sales resources to customers who have indicated an interest in the offer AND a readiness to buy.
Big-time "push" marketing campaigns become less important, though certainly not obsolete. Expect to see frequent mini campaigns where targets are carefully selected based on purchase patterns along with needs-based approach, fine-tuned through predictive analysis. In order to be successful, marketing professionals will need to maintain partnerships with agencies to craft brand strategies. They will also have to cultivate the means to dig down deep and interface with operations to formulate and coordinate tactical implementation of customer interactions.
Two: Unlocking profit potential of existing and acquired customers
In many instances, the cost of acquiring new customers exceeds the revenues generated by a single purchase transaction in year 1. Without an effective means to capitalize on customer relationships, the return on investment associated with customer acquisition employing traditional methods represents a dubious proposition.
When CRM is tied to enterprise marketing operations, advertising managers and market segment managers can come to terms with brand deficits because the firm can formulate reasonable strategies to increase the value of relationships over time.
It will become increasingly difficult to make the case for investment in customer acquisition without some means of capitalizing on relationships which involves cross,-sell, re-sell (a.k.a. retention rates) and up-sell. Even those companies that seek market share and scale through mergers & acquisition strategies will require an effective means to capitalize on goodwill by growing the value of relationships.
Three: It's not just who you know, but what you do with it
All too often, the practice of marketing is associated exclusively with strategy and creativity. These things are important, but the nuts and bolts of marketing involves the process of transforming opportunities to sales. Operational risks represent a significant waste of resources and can dramatically erode ROI. What is operational risk? Any opportunity that is un-recognized, overlooked or recognized and then dropped completely or delayed to the point where it is no longer relevant to the customer or prospect. How often does that happen? Lots!
Workflow is a critically important feature of fully functional CRM because it ties brand intelligence to tangible value at every step along a value chain. For companies operating in cooperation with partners and intermediaries, information exchange pertaining to customer interaction dramatically enhances marketing performance. Firms gain the ability to recognize more opportunities as well as convert more opportunities into sales. Multi-channel, operational interaction to support consistent face of brand and close the loop—immediate response to real time inquiries. An equally important (and often overlooked) benefit is the ability to "extend" the dialog—providing institutional memory that allows the customer to make decisions in time frame that satisfies their needs.
Four: Interactive media and technologies gain wider acceptance
Expect to see a strategic shift in the media mix with an increase to allocations for interactive media. Case in point--a recent article in the Wall Street Journal reported that spending on search engine related marketing more than doubled in the U.S. from 2001 to 2002 and is expected by grow 48 percent in 2003. While this factoid represents a single pixel of a very large picture, these numbers are extremely revealing because this increase in spending for interactive media has taken place in a down economy. This speaks to the value businesses are placing on an interactive brand dialog, particularly one that is initiated by the customer.
Every ending is a new beginning
"Your daddy's advertising" was always risky business—the connection between investment in brand awareness, customer acquisition and the bottom-line profitability of a firm were tenuous at best. To quote John Wanamaker, "Half of my advertising is wasted. I just don't know which half." In the days of mass media, mass markets, and mass production it was OK to accept the ambiguity inherent in this statement. Not anymore.
In the coming years, outdated marketing methods will be replaced by integrated marketing communications methods with a heavy emphasis on customer database strategies supported by CRM technologies. The change will be driven by consumer preferences and the bottom line. Success will be contingent on the quality of a firm's marketing operations rather than the size of the paid media budget. And so, expect to see continued spending on CRM and expect to see IMC deployed by firms as the best means of achieving profits and getting and growing customer relationships.
Industry experts contend that marketing, traditional mass media brand advertising in particular, is not working any more. This contention is nothing new. People have been buying and selling traditional advertising "on faith" for quite some time.
There is another school of thought which holds that integrated marketing communications [IMC] deployed in combination with CRM technologies has never worked better. Let's test the truth of both of these contentions.
Daddy's advertising is in big trouble with consumers
Traditional mass media advertising (a.k.a. your daddy's advertising) is suffering from a gradual, yet inevitable, process of eroding effectiveness.
It is abundantly clear that consumers are becoming resistant to one-sided, projected, mass media advertising. In terms of receptiveness, consumers are well beyond the saturation point—they are simply exposed to more advertisements in a myriad of forms in any given day than they can possibly process. The typical consumer is exposed to as many as 3000 ads every day.
Advertising filtering used to be an act of will—ignore it and it will go away. It is not necessary to conduct a statistically valid psychological study to know that 'ad fatigue' is growing. Observe, more and more sophisticated consumers are taking pro-active steps to block traditional advertising. The Federal Trade Commission reports that more than 10 million phone numbers have been registered with the federal "do-not-call" lists in the first four days of the program which kicked off in June of this year. Other psyche defense strategies are growing in popularity, including:
- pop-up ad blockers,
- sorting snail-mail next to the waste basket,
- zipping and zapping TV commercials,
- billboard bans, etc.
Consumers will pay for technology, services, alternative media and government regulations that provide relief from the onslaught.
In fairness, traditional advertising media is not dead yet. There are some very familiar media venues that involve a compelling and complimentary relationship between content and advertising. Some notable examples include professional trade and consumer fashion magazines. For millions of spectators, Super Bowl advertising is an important part of the pre-game hype and halftime entertainment. And then, there is my personal favorite, places like Times Square where outdoor advertising and urban architecture have come together to foster a unique sense of place. When it works, it works great. Nevertheless, trouble is brewing.
Second thoughts and the search for alternatives
The other irresistible force causing concern for traditional, mass-market brand advertising is simple microeconomics. What strategic choices can businesses make to compete more effectively and generate profits?
IF, let's say, there is an inherently superior marketing communications method (i.e. integrated communications) and consumers are more receptive to an interactive brand dialog using this method. Just for the sake of argument, let's say integrated communications delivers better return on investment of marketing resources. And, finally, let's say that this method can transform marketing activities into a valued service that contributes to overall product quality and differentiates the brand . . .
THEN firms deploying integrated communications would gain competitive advantage in the marketplace.
As businesses adapt to emerging customer preferences and adopt alternative marketing communications methods, it is logical to expect that allocations to marketing operations and brand intelligence grounded on CRM platforms will increase as a percentage of total marketing expenses. Alternatively, investment in traditional customer acquisition methods and mass media will be rationalized.
Certain industries were early adopters of CRM, most notably market leaders in the financial services industry (banking in particular), telecommunications and "r-e-tailers" which started with simple personalization and then began revenue generating marketing initiatives based on explicit customer preferences and/or projected interests.
Going forward, technology industry analysts foresee continued spending for CRM technologies, despite the slowdown in sales of new licenses in 2001 and 2002. It appears that the market for CRM technologies is pausing for a temporary "breather." Certainly, the recent economic downturn has a lot to do with this situation. However, the "industry chatter" suggests that other factors are equally relevant to the loss of momentum. In striving to achieve strategic advantage, the Holy Grail, some businesses ran headlong into the big, bad boogie man of every enterprise initiative. Implementation. In order to be successful, the means (i.e. the right technology) and methods (i.e. effective tactical strategies supported by operational resources) must be in place. Neither the means nor the methods will matter in the least without a strategic brand vision grounded on a customer-centric view of customer relationships.
In many instances, the technology challenges associated with CRM are not nearly as daunting as the challenge of adapting the organization. And so, while the adoption of CRM (including essential modules such as Enterprise Marketing Management, Partner Relationship Management and Sales Force Automation) may be slower than once projected, the value of these technologies is such that the outcome is inevitable.
So, what's the "big idea" behind integrated marketing communications?
Integrated marketing communications involves crafting advertising creative and media strategy to convey a compelling message to prospective customers at critical contact points as customers experience the brand and explore the value of products and brand relationships. IMC involves a customer-brand dialog. The goal: deliver the right message to the right customer at the right time. Media strategies associated with integrated communications include both paid and non-paid media, hence the compatibility of integrated marketing strategy and CRM technology.
Integrated communications overcomes the limitations of traditional brand advertising, which focuses almost exclusively on brand awareness, qualitative brand impressions, and share of mind. While instructive in measuring the effectiveness of advertising creative, these metrics can not be directly correlated to the bottom-line performance of the firm.
Lifetime value of customer relationships is the key to the profitability of many firms in many industries. In many instances, lifetime value serves to justify the initial investment in customer acquisition and identify customers with the greatest long-term potential. IMC seeks to capitalize brand relationships.
Integrated communications seeks to impact the customer experience, brand relevance if you will, shaping perceptions as customers experience the brand. With IMC, brand merges with product quality. Brand satisfaction is a function of the tangible product purchased as well as perceptions of the purchase process and on-going interactions.
Evolution of the integrated marketing practice and process
Throughout the 90s, integrated marketing initiatives were perceived as too complicated, having too many moving parts, and too labor intensive.
In order to implement an integrated communications program, marketing managers had to interact with advertising agencies and distribution channels as well as operations, including IT, and service centers. Implementation relied heavily on matrix management. Stakeholders generally owned products, not markets or customer segments. It was a tough bill to fill. They say pioneers take arrows. Well, in the 90s, most of the people practicing integrated communications looked more like porcupines than marketing professionals. Nevertheless, survivors learned important lessons and gained valuable experience.
In the era before CRM, integrated communications was an extremely blunt instrument. If you were successful at your craft, you ended up wasting fewer resources than your competitors in acquiring new customers. Politicians facing difficult decisions concerning imperfect legislation will "just hold old their nose and vote." So it was with integrated communications in the early 90s. The discipline was strategically valid, having clear benefits compared to your daddy's advertising methods, but it could have been more compelling from a business standpoint. Something was missing—closed loop marketing—the ability to transform brand intelligence into brand interaction.
The future of marketing unfolds
Over the past several years the integrated communications practice has evolved to capitalize on new CRM technologies which have enabled companies to compete more effectively and more aggressively for customer franchise. The following are four ways in which marketing methods are evolving:
One: Brand intelligence leads to brand relevance
CRM platforms based on an enterprise customer database have opened the door to brand intelligence. With CRM as an operational resource, the strategic focus shifts to understanding lifetime value of customer relationships along with the variables that can be actively managed to shape the dynamics of those relationships. Businesses craft highly targeted campaigns, down to an audience of one. Personalization is just the tip of the iceberg. Business rules drive "kinetic offers" based on expressed interests (inherent to permission marketing), purchase patterns and customer interactions, interpreted in real-time.
CRM provides the capacity to monitor and track customer interactions across a broad range of touch-points including sales, web, and service centers. As purchase deliberations intensify, firms can apply incremental sales resources to customers who have indicated an interest in the offer AND a readiness to buy.
Big-time "push" marketing campaigns become less important, though certainly not obsolete. Expect to see frequent mini campaigns where targets are carefully selected based on purchase patterns along with needs-based approach, fine-tuned through predictive analysis. In order to be successful, marketing professionals will need to maintain partnerships with agencies to craft brand strategies. They will also have to cultivate the means to dig down deep and interface with operations to formulate and coordinate tactical implementation of customer interactions.
Two: Unlocking profit potential of existing and acquired customers
In many instances, the cost of acquiring new customers exceeds the revenues generated by a single purchase transaction in year 1. Without an effective means to capitalize on customer relationships, the return on investment associated with customer acquisition employing traditional methods represents a dubious proposition.
When CRM is tied to enterprise marketing operations, advertising managers and market segment managers can come to terms with brand deficits because the firm can formulate reasonable strategies to increase the value of relationships over time.
It will become increasingly difficult to make the case for investment in customer acquisition without some means of capitalizing on relationships which involves cross,-sell, re-sell (a.k.a. retention rates) and up-sell. Even those companies that seek market share and scale through mergers & acquisition strategies will require an effective means to capitalize on goodwill by growing the value of relationships.
Three: It's not just who you know, but what you do with it
All too often, the practice of marketing is associated exclusively with strategy and creativity. These things are important, but the nuts and bolts of marketing involves the process of transforming opportunities to sales. Operational risks represent a significant waste of resources and can dramatically erode ROI. What is operational risk? Any opportunity that is un-recognized, overlooked or recognized and then dropped completely or delayed to the point where it is no longer relevant to the customer or prospect. How often does that happen? Lots!
Workflow is a critically important feature of fully functional CRM because it ties brand intelligence to tangible value at every step along a value chain. For companies operating in cooperation with partners and intermediaries, information exchange pertaining to customer interaction dramatically enhances marketing performance. Firms gain the ability to recognize more opportunities as well as convert more opportunities into sales. Multi-channel, operational interaction to support consistent face of brand and close the loop—immediate response to real time inquiries. An equally important (and often overlooked) benefit is the ability to "extend" the dialog—providing institutional memory that allows the customer to make decisions in time frame that satisfies their needs.
Four: Interactive media and technologies gain wider acceptance
Expect to see a strategic shift in the media mix with an increase to allocations for interactive media. Case in point--a recent article in the Wall Street Journal reported that spending on search engine related marketing more than doubled in the U.S. from 2001 to 2002 and is expected by grow 48 percent in 2003. While this factoid represents a single pixel of a very large picture, these numbers are extremely revealing because this increase in spending for interactive media has taken place in a down economy. This speaks to the value businesses are placing on an interactive brand dialog, particularly one that is initiated by the customer.
Every ending is a new beginning
"Your daddy's advertising" was always risky business—the connection between investment in brand awareness, customer acquisition and the bottom-line profitability of a firm were tenuous at best. To quote John Wanamaker, "Half of my advertising is wasted. I just don't know which half." In the days of mass media, mass markets, and mass production it was OK to accept the ambiguity inherent in this statement. Not anymore.
In the coming years, outdated marketing methods will be replaced by integrated marketing communications methods with a heavy emphasis on customer database strategies supported by CRM technologies. The change will be driven by consumer preferences and the bottom line. Success will be contingent on the quality of a firm's marketing operations rather than the size of the paid media budget. And so, expect to see continued spending on CRM and expect to see IMC deployed by firms as the best means of achieving profits and getting and growing customer relationships.
Tuesday
If You Liked the Web Page, You'll Love the Ad
By BOB TEDESCHI
Two Internet companies, Google and Overture, have made a brisk business of selling ads that appear alongside Web search results. But so far, the big customers for these ad services have been online merchants and operators of search sites. Now, though, online publishers are beginning to sense the possibilities of having Google or Overture serve ads to their audiences.
Publishers, including The Washington Post's Web site, which is owned by The Washington Post Company, and the car-buyers advice site Edmunds.com, have turned to Google or Overture to sell ads pegged to the content that each visitor selects. When a visitor goes to the Book World page on WashingtonPost.com, for example, the person is likely to see a text ad for a self-publishing company or some other book-related advertisement, placed there by Google's advertising service.
"This is a very important trend, particularly for Web publishers who've had a hard time selling out their banner ads," said Jordan Rohan, an analyst with the Soundview Technology Group, an investment firm. "This is the bridge between Web content and search."
The new service is an extension of the bid-for-placement service pioneered by Overture, in which marketers pay for their ad to appear atop search results whenever an Internet user types a certain word or phrase. Under that approach, when an Internet user enters "airline tickets" as a search query, for example, the text ad of the merchant who has bid the most will appear atop the results on Overture.com. The same approach works on Overture clients like Yahoo Inc., which recently agreed to acquire Overture, and the Microsoft Corporation's MSN. Bids range from a dime or so to $1.50 or more for terms like airline tickets. The average fee is 40 cents.
A similar system is used by Google on its own Google.com site as well as by clients that include Ask Jeeves Inc. and AOL Time Warner Inc.'s America Online.
When serving ads for content sites, both Overture and Google employ technology that infers the topic of a page by scanning for words and phrases, searching through a database of tens of thousands of advertisers, then delivering a relevant text ad. In some cases that is not difficult. For instance, on Weather.com's golf forecast page for Norfolk, Va., Google's service � which it calls AdSense � can deliver ads for marketers who had bid to have their ads appear above Google search results whenever users type "Norfolk Virginia golf courses" or some similar phrase.
Joe Fiveash, the senior vice president for business and product development at Weather Channel Interactive Inc., which operates the site Weather.com, said that while the site had no shortage of large national advertisers, it did not have the sales force or the technology to efficiently insert ads of smaller advertisers in niches left open by the large advertisers.
Mr. Fiveash noted the prospect of finding local golf ads on the Norfolk, Va., golf forecast page, and said: "We don't call on the Norfolk golf courses. That's the gap we've been able to fill."
Neither the privately held Weather Channel Interactive nor Google would disclose financial details of the advertising agreement, but Mr. Fiveash said the revenue generated by the program "is certainly material to us."
The technology is not yet foolproof. The online edition of The New York Post, which is owned by the News Corporation, ran an article last month about a murder in which the victim's body parts were packed in a suitcase, and Google served up an ad for a luggage dealer.
"We are working with Google to fine-tune this program," said Suzanne Halpin, a New York Post spokeswoman. "We take it on a case-by-case basis and do our best to remove inappropriate ads."
Susan Wojcicki, Google's director of product management, said the company was learning from experience and refining its technology to recognize situations where marketers would not want their ads to run, while also letting publishers delete inappropriate ads.
Despite the occasional stumble, Ms. Wojcicki said Google's AdSense program had performed well, both technically and financially. Google does not release revenue figures, but Ms. Wojcicki said the company has attracted a growing n
By BOB TEDESCHI
Two Internet companies, Google and Overture, have made a brisk business of selling ads that appear alongside Web search results. But so far, the big customers for these ad services have been online merchants and operators of search sites. Now, though, online publishers are beginning to sense the possibilities of having Google or Overture serve ads to their audiences.
Publishers, including The Washington Post's Web site, which is owned by The Washington Post Company, and the car-buyers advice site Edmunds.com, have turned to Google or Overture to sell ads pegged to the content that each visitor selects. When a visitor goes to the Book World page on WashingtonPost.com, for example, the person is likely to see a text ad for a self-publishing company or some other book-related advertisement, placed there by Google's advertising service.
"This is a very important trend, particularly for Web publishers who've had a hard time selling out their banner ads," said Jordan Rohan, an analyst with the Soundview Technology Group, an investment firm. "This is the bridge between Web content and search."
The new service is an extension of the bid-for-placement service pioneered by Overture, in which marketers pay for their ad to appear atop search results whenever an Internet user types a certain word or phrase. Under that approach, when an Internet user enters "airline tickets" as a search query, for example, the text ad of the merchant who has bid the most will appear atop the results on Overture.com. The same approach works on Overture clients like Yahoo Inc., which recently agreed to acquire Overture, and the Microsoft Corporation's MSN. Bids range from a dime or so to $1.50 or more for terms like airline tickets. The average fee is 40 cents.
A similar system is used by Google on its own Google.com site as well as by clients that include Ask Jeeves Inc. and AOL Time Warner Inc.'s America Online.
When serving ads for content sites, both Overture and Google employ technology that infers the topic of a page by scanning for words and phrases, searching through a database of tens of thousands of advertisers, then delivering a relevant text ad. In some cases that is not difficult. For instance, on Weather.com's golf forecast page for Norfolk, Va., Google's service � which it calls AdSense � can deliver ads for marketers who had bid to have their ads appear above Google search results whenever users type "Norfolk Virginia golf courses" or some similar phrase.
Joe Fiveash, the senior vice president for business and product development at Weather Channel Interactive Inc., which operates the site Weather.com, said that while the site had no shortage of large national advertisers, it did not have the sales force or the technology to efficiently insert ads of smaller advertisers in niches left open by the large advertisers.
Mr. Fiveash noted the prospect of finding local golf ads on the Norfolk, Va., golf forecast page, and said: "We don't call on the Norfolk golf courses. That's the gap we've been able to fill."
Neither the privately held Weather Channel Interactive nor Google would disclose financial details of the advertising agreement, but Mr. Fiveash said the revenue generated by the program "is certainly material to us."
The technology is not yet foolproof. The online edition of The New York Post, which is owned by the News Corporation, ran an article last month about a murder in which the victim's body parts were packed in a suitcase, and Google served up an ad for a luggage dealer.
"We are working with Google to fine-tune this program," said Suzanne Halpin, a New York Post spokeswoman. "We take it on a case-by-case basis and do our best to remove inappropriate ads."
Susan Wojcicki, Google's director of product management, said the company was learning from experience and refining its technology to recognize situations where marketers would not want their ads to run, while also letting publishers delete inappropriate ads.
Despite the occasional stumble, Ms. Wojcicki said Google's AdSense program had performed well, both technically and financially. Google does not release revenue figures, but Ms. Wojcicki said the company has attracted a growing n
If You Liked the Web Page, You'll Love the Ad
By BOB TEDESCHI
Two Internet companies, Google and Overture, have made a brisk business of selling ads that appear alongside Web search results. But so far, the big customers for these ad services have been online merchants and operators of search sites. Now, though, online publishers are beginning to sense the possibilities of having Google or Overture serve ads to their audiences.
Publishers, including The Washington Post's Web site, which is owned by The Washington Post Company, and the car-buyers advice site Edmunds.com, have turned to Google or Overture to sell ads pegged to the content that each visitor selects. When a visitor goes to the Book World page on WashingtonPost.com, for example, the person is likely to see a text ad for a self-publishing company or some other book-related advertisement, placed there by Google's advertising service.
"This is a very important trend, particularly for Web publishers who've had a hard time selling out their banner ads," said Jordan Rohan, an analyst with the Soundview Technology Group, an investment firm. "This is the bridge between Web content and search."
The new service is an extension of the bid-for-placement service pioneered by Overture, in which marketers pay for their ad to appear atop search results whenever an Internet user types a certain word or phrase. Under that approach, when an Internet user enters "airline tickets" as a search query, for example, the text ad of the merchant who has bid the most will appear atop the results on Overture.com. The same approach works on Overture clients like Yahoo Inc., which recently agreed to acquire Overture, and the Microsoft Corporation's MSN. Bids range from a dime or so to $1.50 or more for terms like airline tickets. The average fee is 40 cents.
A similar system is used by Google on its own Google.com site as well as by clients that include Ask Jeeves Inc. and AOL Time Warner Inc.'s America Online.
When serving ads for content sites, both Overture and Google employ technology that infers the topic of a page by scanning for words and phrases, searching through a database of tens of thousands of advertisers, then delivering a relevant text ad. In some cases that is not difficult. For instance, on Weather.com's golf forecast page for Norfolk, Va., Google's service — which it calls AdSense — can deliver ads for marketers who had bid to have their ads appear above Google search results whenever users type "Norfolk Virginia golf courses" or some similar phrase.
Joe Fiveash, the senior vice president for business and product development at Weather Channel Interactive Inc., which operates the site Weather.com, said that while the site had no shortage of large national advertisers, it did not have the sales force or the technology to efficiently insert ads of smaller advertisers in niches left open by the large advertisers.
Mr. Fiveash noted the prospect of finding local golf ads on the Norfolk, Va., golf forecast page, and said: "We don't call on the Norfolk golf courses. That's the gap we've been able to fill."
Neither the privately held Weather Channel Interactive nor Google would disclose financial details of the advertising agreement, but Mr. Fiveash said the revenue generated by the program "is certainly material to us."
The technology is not yet foolproof. The online edition of The New York Post, which is owned by the News Corporation, ran an article last month about a murder in which the victim's body parts were packed in a suitcase, and Google served up an ad for a luggage dealer.
"We are working with Google to fine-tune this program," said Suzanne Halpin, a New York Post spokeswoman. "We take it on a case-by-case basis and do our best to remove inappropriate ads."
Susan Wojcicki, Google's director of product management, said the company was learning from experience and refining its technology to recognize situations where marketers would not want their ads to run, while also letting publishers delete inappropriate ads.
Despite the occasional stumble, Ms. Wojcicki said Google's AdSense program had performed well, both technically and financially. Google does not release revenue figures, but Ms. Wojcicki said the company has attracted a growing number of publishing clients, which it would not disclose. "We believe it'll be a significant part of our revenue going forward," she said. "We've seen a lot of demand from publishers who've not had an easy way to monetize their pages."
Google's AdSense program is open to large and small publishers alike, although publishers who serve fewer than 20 million pages to users each month must use a self-service method to register and set up their pages to accept the Google ads.
Overture, meanwhile, argues that a fully automated program like the one Google offers is unreliable.
"Technology will never do the job of a human in making sure this ad makes sense in this news story," said Bill Demas, Overture's senior vice president and general manager of the partner business and solutions group.
Mr. Demas said Overture's service, Content Match, had a promising start. The service was rolled out five weeks ago with five online publishers, and last week added a sixth, Knight Ridder D
By BOB TEDESCHI
Two Internet companies, Google and Overture, have made a brisk business of selling ads that appear alongside Web search results. But so far, the big customers for these ad services have been online merchants and operators of search sites. Now, though, online publishers are beginning to sense the possibilities of having Google or Overture serve ads to their audiences.
Publishers, including The Washington Post's Web site, which is owned by The Washington Post Company, and the car-buyers advice site Edmunds.com, have turned to Google or Overture to sell ads pegged to the content that each visitor selects. When a visitor goes to the Book World page on WashingtonPost.com, for example, the person is likely to see a text ad for a self-publishing company or some other book-related advertisement, placed there by Google's advertising service.
"This is a very important trend, particularly for Web publishers who've had a hard time selling out their banner ads," said Jordan Rohan, an analyst with the Soundview Technology Group, an investment firm. "This is the bridge between Web content and search."
The new service is an extension of the bid-for-placement service pioneered by Overture, in which marketers pay for their ad to appear atop search results whenever an Internet user types a certain word or phrase. Under that approach, when an Internet user enters "airline tickets" as a search query, for example, the text ad of the merchant who has bid the most will appear atop the results on Overture.com. The same approach works on Overture clients like Yahoo Inc., which recently agreed to acquire Overture, and the Microsoft Corporation's MSN. Bids range from a dime or so to $1.50 or more for terms like airline tickets. The average fee is 40 cents.
A similar system is used by Google on its own Google.com site as well as by clients that include Ask Jeeves Inc. and AOL Time Warner Inc.'s America Online.
When serving ads for content sites, both Overture and Google employ technology that infers the topic of a page by scanning for words and phrases, searching through a database of tens of thousands of advertisers, then delivering a relevant text ad. In some cases that is not difficult. For instance, on Weather.com's golf forecast page for Norfolk, Va., Google's service — which it calls AdSense — can deliver ads for marketers who had bid to have their ads appear above Google search results whenever users type "Norfolk Virginia golf courses" or some similar phrase.
Joe Fiveash, the senior vice president for business and product development at Weather Channel Interactive Inc., which operates the site Weather.com, said that while the site had no shortage of large national advertisers, it did not have the sales force or the technology to efficiently insert ads of smaller advertisers in niches left open by the large advertisers.
Mr. Fiveash noted the prospect of finding local golf ads on the Norfolk, Va., golf forecast page, and said: "We don't call on the Norfolk golf courses. That's the gap we've been able to fill."
Neither the privately held Weather Channel Interactive nor Google would disclose financial details of the advertising agreement, but Mr. Fiveash said the revenue generated by the program "is certainly material to us."
The technology is not yet foolproof. The online edition of The New York Post, which is owned by the News Corporation, ran an article last month about a murder in which the victim's body parts were packed in a suitcase, and Google served up an ad for a luggage dealer.
"We are working with Google to fine-tune this program," said Suzanne Halpin, a New York Post spokeswoman. "We take it on a case-by-case basis and do our best to remove inappropriate ads."
Susan Wojcicki, Google's director of product management, said the company was learning from experience and refining its technology to recognize situations where marketers would not want their ads to run, while also letting publishers delete inappropriate ads.
Despite the occasional stumble, Ms. Wojcicki said Google's AdSense program had performed well, both technically and financially. Google does not release revenue figures, but Ms. Wojcicki said the company has attracted a growing number of publishing clients, which it would not disclose. "We believe it'll be a significant part of our revenue going forward," she said. "We've seen a lot of demand from publishers who've not had an easy way to monetize their pages."
Google's AdSense program is open to large and small publishers alike, although publishers who serve fewer than 20 million pages to users each month must use a self-service method to register and set up their pages to accept the Google ads.
Overture, meanwhile, argues that a fully automated program like the one Google offers is unreliable.
"Technology will never do the job of a human in making sure this ad makes sense in this news story," said Bill Demas, Overture's senior vice president and general manager of the partner business and solutions group.
Mr. Demas said Overture's service, Content Match, had a promising start. The service was rolled out five weeks ago with five online publishers, and last week added a sixth, Knight Ridder D
Monday
In Support of Sponsorship
By Joseph Jaffe
The best practice of sponsorship is one of those universal approaches evident across every major form of media -- from Safeco Field to the Survivor Mountain Dew Challenge; from “this program brought to you in part by Coca-Cola” to the iMedia Best Practice of the Week, made possible through MSN.
This week’s best practice speaks to two primary aspects:
How online sponsorship works exactly the same as what we’re used to in traditional media
How online sponsorship also provides additional unique benefits to that of “offline”.
“Online sponsorships work best when they act like an improvising chef,” says Randy Kilgore, VP, Advertising at The Wall Street Journal Online. “Read the recipe, but don't forget to be creative.”
In other words, draw from offline heritage (by associating the message with content that either plays well to your audience or ties to a feature of the site that has a clear user benefit) but also look to leverage online’s key differentiators in order to provide additional benefit to sponsors.
And so, perhaps the questions we should be asking are:
In what ways does online sponsorship complement, extend or leverage an offline sponsorship?
What are the integrated benefits of pursuing a sponsorship deal online?
Visa is one example of a company that has taken its offline sponsorships to a new level through a variety of online approaches, including Survivor cast-off tie-ins, sweepstakes and promotions.
“As online as an advertising medium matures I believe more value will be placed on leveraging ‘offline’ sponsorships online,” says Jon Raj, Director of Advertising at Visa. “The very nature of the sponsorship and the very nature of the medium are about passion. It’s a place to dig deeper into what people care about.”
Take the Olympics for example. In the past, NBC’s coverage has been a debacle (which is being kind). The public (that’s you and me) revolted at the revolting coverage, which was cheesy, staid and contrived. Most importantly, the network’s obsession with Prime Time meant that events would be broadcast several hours after they had taken place, which didn’t help any sports fan who would typically have known the result already –thanks largely to the Internet.
This inference is part of a much larger consumer trend (the evolution of Prime Time to My Time based on the need for “instant gratification”), however in this particular case it opens up a can of worms for the sponsors paying the big bucks, who end up getting disgruntled consumers in return for their investment. Fortunately, the networks are slowly adapting, but until they get to where they need to get to, there’s the salvation of extending the olive branch to the official sponsors in the form of being able to participate in official Website activity.
Today’s empowered consumer is learning pretty quickly how to filter out brand communications (otherwise known as clutter). Predictability is without question a danger and challenge to advertisers. Just like many consumers are accustomed to screening out the 468x60 banner in the fixed top-of-page position, so too are they learning to cope with the persistent sponsor logo on television or the book-end “brought to you in part” goodwill message, together with the accompanying 30-second spot.
The Internet has proven to be a shot in the arm in helping to counteract this trend and in doing so, serve as an additional touch point through which to drive home the association and endorsement.
The case study below helps to validate this assertion.
Objective: To create visibility of the GM Chevrolet brand through its association and sponsorship of the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Approach: A co-branded section on MSNBC was created, with the look and feel of the Chevy site. This section, called Daily Highlights, was “brought to you” by Chevrolet and contained information about the Winter Olympics, such as medal counts.
MSNBC also created an interactive map in conjunction with the Olympic Torch Relay. Information was provided about the individual torch athletes. Local dealerships were also tied in to the relay route. Finally, events were held at the respective dealerships during the actual relay.
Key findings:
The campaign boosted Message Association significantly across the board
Most influenced were the in-market respondents, looking to purchase a new vehicle within seven to 12 months
Frequency played a key role in increasing Brand Awareness, Message Association, as well as Sponsorship Association (against the attribute, “Is a sponsor of the Olympic Winter Games”).
In addition to providing a synergistic amplification of offline sponsorships, there’s also the unique functionality that the Internet provides in the form of interactivity, which takes sponsorship to a whole new level.
This occurs both directly (through the ability to enter a sweepstakes or self select information from within the creative) and indirectly (by sponsoring a utility such as a stock ticker for example).
“The front page of The Wall Street Journal Online has customization options in the form of modules,” says Kilgore. “We offer sponsorship opportunities tied to these modules. For example, today you would see Brown & Company (financial services provider) sponsoring the portfolio module that appears on the front page. There are no similar sponsorships on the front page of the newspaper.”
Sponsorships work best when synergies are reached through the alignment of brand with relevant and desirable content. As both a means to help monetize this content, and in doing so, provide value back to the consumer, online sponsorships are proving to be integrated oases amid a rather bland integrated backdrop.
By Joseph Jaffe
The best practice of sponsorship is one of those universal approaches evident across every major form of media -- from Safeco Field to the Survivor Mountain Dew Challenge; from “this program brought to you in part by Coca-Cola” to the iMedia Best Practice of the Week, made possible through MSN.
This week’s best practice speaks to two primary aspects:
How online sponsorship works exactly the same as what we’re used to in traditional media
How online sponsorship also provides additional unique benefits to that of “offline”.
“Online sponsorships work best when they act like an improvising chef,” says Randy Kilgore, VP, Advertising at The Wall Street Journal Online. “Read the recipe, but don't forget to be creative.”
In other words, draw from offline heritage (by associating the message with content that either plays well to your audience or ties to a feature of the site that has a clear user benefit) but also look to leverage online’s key differentiators in order to provide additional benefit to sponsors.
And so, perhaps the questions we should be asking are:
In what ways does online sponsorship complement, extend or leverage an offline sponsorship?
What are the integrated benefits of pursuing a sponsorship deal online?
Visa is one example of a company that has taken its offline sponsorships to a new level through a variety of online approaches, including Survivor cast-off tie-ins, sweepstakes and promotions.
“As online as an advertising medium matures I believe more value will be placed on leveraging ‘offline’ sponsorships online,” says Jon Raj, Director of Advertising at Visa. “The very nature of the sponsorship and the very nature of the medium are about passion. It’s a place to dig deeper into what people care about.”
Take the Olympics for example. In the past, NBC’s coverage has been a debacle (which is being kind). The public (that’s you and me) revolted at the revolting coverage, which was cheesy, staid and contrived. Most importantly, the network’s obsession with Prime Time meant that events would be broadcast several hours after they had taken place, which didn’t help any sports fan who would typically have known the result already –thanks largely to the Internet.
This inference is part of a much larger consumer trend (the evolution of Prime Time to My Time based on the need for “instant gratification”), however in this particular case it opens up a can of worms for the sponsors paying the big bucks, who end up getting disgruntled consumers in return for their investment. Fortunately, the networks are slowly adapting, but until they get to where they need to get to, there’s the salvation of extending the olive branch to the official sponsors in the form of being able to participate in official Website activity.
Today’s empowered consumer is learning pretty quickly how to filter out brand communications (otherwise known as clutter). Predictability is without question a danger and challenge to advertisers. Just like many consumers are accustomed to screening out the 468x60 banner in the fixed top-of-page position, so too are they learning to cope with the persistent sponsor logo on television or the book-end “brought to you in part” goodwill message, together with the accompanying 30-second spot.
The Internet has proven to be a shot in the arm in helping to counteract this trend and in doing so, serve as an additional touch point through which to drive home the association and endorsement.
The case study below helps to validate this assertion.
Objective: To create visibility of the GM Chevrolet brand through its association and sponsorship of the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Approach: A co-branded section on MSNBC was created, with the look and feel of the Chevy site. This section, called Daily Highlights, was “brought to you” by Chevrolet and contained information about the Winter Olympics, such as medal counts.
MSNBC also created an interactive map in conjunction with the Olympic Torch Relay. Information was provided about the individual torch athletes. Local dealerships were also tied in to the relay route. Finally, events were held at the respective dealerships during the actual relay.
Key findings:
The campaign boosted Message Association significantly across the board
Most influenced were the in-market respondents, looking to purchase a new vehicle within seven to 12 months
Frequency played a key role in increasing Brand Awareness, Message Association, as well as Sponsorship Association (against the attribute, “Is a sponsor of the Olympic Winter Games”).
In addition to providing a synergistic amplification of offline sponsorships, there’s also the unique functionality that the Internet provides in the form of interactivity, which takes sponsorship to a whole new level.
This occurs both directly (through the ability to enter a sweepstakes or self select information from within the creative) and indirectly (by sponsoring a utility such as a stock ticker for example).
“The front page of The Wall Street Journal Online has customization options in the form of modules,” says Kilgore. “We offer sponsorship opportunities tied to these modules. For example, today you would see Brown & Company (financial services provider) sponsoring the portfolio module that appears on the front page. There are no similar sponsorships on the front page of the newspaper.”
Sponsorships work best when synergies are reached through the alignment of brand with relevant and desirable content. As both a means to help monetize this content, and in doing so, provide value back to the consumer, online sponsorships are proving to be integrated oases amid a rather bland integrated backdrop.
