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Marketing budgets must open to social

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Social media's percent of marketing budgets (iStock) To remain successful, marketers MUST market in the social web. According to a May 2009 Anderson Analytics’ survey, 52% of social network users had become a fan or follower of a company or brand, while 46% had said something good about a brand or company on a social network. No matter the marketing goal, from customer service, branding, and lead generation to direct marketing and e-commerce, there is a place for social media in the marketing plan.

Although companies have begun to realize the importance of social media marketing in the near term, budgets have been slow to open up. While traditional media channels attract the largest percentage, online channels represent a growing portion of all marketing spend. But although social network interest, momentum and overall ad budgets are increasing, social network spending will remain a small percentage of total US online spending, remaining at 4.7% to 4.8% over the next few years (eMarketer). Still it’s important to recognize that resources directed to the social media space include time and effort and can be less concrete, and the key advantage of social media marketing is that you can get a lot of value for little investment. Continue reading “Marketing budgets must open to social”

Out of home and on the move

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Out-of-home opportunities (TransitTV)Transit venues are a great place to reach consumers on the go. They are also one of the first DOOH areas our agencies have expressed interest in exploring.

Marketers are familiar with the successful campaigns associated with targeting traditional commuter audiences and see digital as a way to pump it up-a-notch, making their message more dynamic and exciting. Each venue is unique in audience and scope and offers its own targeting advantages. Here are a few of the most interesting opportunities for DOOH in transit venues (after the jump): Continue reading “Out of home and on the move”

Fox finds new, savvy uses for Twitter

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Fox finds new, savvy use for Twitter (Fringe, Fox)Yet another cute Twitter name for leveraging the micro-blogging solution has emerged this week with Fox’s “Tweet-peats” which refers to the behind the scenes tweets on about certain Fox  shows during repeat broadcasts.

Both “Fringe” and “Glee” stars and creators will initially participate and dole out commentary through Twitter while fox re-broadcasts those shows to set the stage for the fall season.  In a UK interactive television style, these tweets can be followed online but will also appear via a scroll near the bottom of the screen providing commentary on the episodes, revealing behind-the-scenes details and answering fan questions.   Fans can sign  up at Twitter.com/FRINGEonFOX and Twitter.com/GLEEonFOX to follow the event.

From a engaging an audience perspective, this is a brilliant strategy for stirring up interest in two shows that Fox has heavy hopes on for the fall season as well as seeing what fan chatter can be leveraged into a consumer research play. Continue reading “Fox finds new, savvy uses for Twitter”

How to avoid in-game ad debacles

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How to avoid outrage for in-game ads (Anyaka via Flickr)Column originally featured on MediaPost

Last week, columnist Shankar Gupta noted the loading time debacle with “Wipeout HD”‘s in-game ads. The story is a frightening one for marketers unfamiliar with the gaming space. What was essentially a 10-second mistake resulted in the early termination of a campaign and loads of upset customers. Is the gaming space really so unpredictable and volatile?

Yes and no. Gamers can be a surly sort, quick to band together for a common cause against a shared enemy. But it’s really not that difficult to know how to avoid conflict. A key concept here is one that really should prevail for all media channels: The best advertising is perceived by a consumer as content. The “rocket science” for gaming ads involves maximizing ROI, targeting the buy, and leveraging the in-game elements into a larger integrated campaign. Avoiding a riot shouldn’t be rocket science, and here are a few tips to help avoid such a scenario. Read More.

Augmented reality set to blast off

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Augmented reality set to blast offFor over a year now, the Lab has displayed AR or Augmented Reality technology on a fixed platform in our DOOH room. However, AR is rapidly moving its way beyond a fix platform.  Location-based social networking site Brightkite recently entered into a partnership with Dutch startup SPRXmobile to integrate the Layar augmented reality features into its solution.  This solution leverages Location-based social networking, GPS, camera and compass phone functions to overlay 3D location-based information on the screen in real time. Called Layar, it’s their browser designed to be used on smart phones and give users the chance to point and experience. As the Lab’s resident “car guy” I couldn’t help but think about Intel’s progressive in-car efforts and their drive to create rear-seat entertainment/navigation architectures, along with LBS.

Brands however could really move AR forward through sponsorship initiatives.  Continue reading “Augmented reality set to blast off”

Still think social media is a fad?

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Still think social media is a fad? (Socialnomics)When clients visit the Lab, they always want to know:  But what does social media mean to me? And ultimately, they want what Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character asks of Jerry Maguire.

Brands want to know they can prove their investment on social media platforms is a worthy one. They want to know it will reach wide and far–and will be as effective as television and print campaigns used to be. They want ROI, which means somehow, social media will have to prove it can not only connect people, but draw the dotted line to the cash register. They want to know it won’t backfire (we do our best to show how social media can save the day in a PR nightmare, but we also tell them that all content is viral content, for better or worse).

As new media advocates, it’s hard to know that brands MUST play in this space without being able to give them a pile of case studies and years of hard data to go on that show a direct connection to the purchase funnel. Continue reading “Still think social media is a fad?”

Boxee, Roku get infusion of cash

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Boxee, Roku get more cash--but why? (Boxee)Over the top digital media browsers (or set top boxes) are on fire with two players receiving major investments in the last two  weeks.  Boxee, a software based digital media browser has just closed a round of financing  for 6 million and Roku, a broadband set top box solutions has just secured $8.4 million in new venture capital financing from Menlo Ventures.

Boxee’s software enables users to engage with content stored on their PC and can be used on any type of monitor connected to that PC, paving the way for another living room on demand solution.  Boxee strives to improve the consumer’s content experience by enabling a number of social features to allow sharing of content and suggestions in a very robust manner.  The bulk of the investment comes from General Catalyst Partners who will also have a board seat.  Boxee hopes that the  GC relationship will “strengthen [their] relationships with big media and cable companies.”  Boxee learned the hard way with an early battle with Hulu who blocked use of their portal on the Boxee platform.   But Boxee already has steep competition from other browser based solutions as well as hardware solutions. Continue reading “Boxee, Roku get infusion of cash”

A chief marketing officer’s worst nightmare

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John Ross, President IPG Emerging Media Lab What scares you? What keeps you up at night, and nags at the back of your consciousness? There are a couple of things that frighten me. Being likened to the comedian Carrot  Top is one of them. The other is finding that I have stopped learning.

Can you imagine it? Waking up one day to discover that your capacity for taking in new knowledge has ended. That everything you are going to learn has already happened and that your brain, now filled to capacity, was blinking the “hard drive full” message across your retinas over and over again. It can happen. I have experienced it.

One of the things that happens when you are the custodian of a large marketing budget is that suddenly everyone wants to meet with you. If you allowed every new vendor to come in a pitch, you could spend your entire day watching Power Point slides. Want to know what waterboarding feels like? Just follow the media director of a major brand around a marketing conference and watch the vendors surround them like flood waters. Continue reading “A chief marketing officer’s worst nightmare”

Deca: Online audiences are “tribes”

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Deca TV on the future of online content (Momversations/IPG Lab's Content Tuesday)This week as a part of an ongoing webinar series on online content opportunities, the IPG Emerging Media Lab welcomed Michael Wayne, President and CEO of DECA (Digital Entertainment Corporation of America). DECA is not about big splashy production, or name Hollywood talent – instead they are successfully delivering content that is “of the Web, by the Web, and for the Web.” Their programming model is focused on creating information based formats that leverage already established web talent in verticals like Moms and Cooking. We see DECA as a leader in the emerging content space and great partner for brands that are looking to dip a toe or jump head first into the waters of emerging content.

We are asking Content Tuesday presenters to answer a set of questions about their business and the emerging content industry. We think each of these POVs will be a valuable resource as we look to collectively shape best practices and bring solutions to our clients. After the jump, hear from Michael about what DECA is doing in the online content space, and what the company sees for the future of online video. Continue reading “Deca: Online audiences are “tribes””

EA: A market trend?

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EA: A marketing trend? (Sims3)Column originally featured on MediaPost

Electronic Arts is shaking things up and leading by example. The video game company seems to be evolving a new approach to game publishing, one that promises a cross-platform distribution model fortified against piracy.

The game worth looking at closely for following this trend is “The Sims 3.” The title launched but a few months ago, and has now seen over 3.7 million copies sold, outstripping the previous bestseller “The Sims 2.” What’s interesting about these sales is that they follow a torrent (pun intended) of pirated downloads from a leaked version of the game prior to release. Rather than lamenting the piracy, EA execs suggested that internally, they shifted the viewpoint to seeing the leaked version as an “extended demo.” The reason behind this was the sheer volume of additional content exclusive to registered users that didn’t ship on the retail disk.

EA has instead approached the Sims franchise as a content portal to additional downloads, some of which were free, and others for pay. They are now adding this same model to the iPhone version of “The Sims 3,” making use of in-app commerce enabled by the iPhone 3.0 software release. This brings up the other facet of EA’s burgeoning model that’s extremely compelling: cross distribution.  Read more.