October 2008 Archives

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Friday, October 31, 2008

Surprise! Consumers Looking For Value and Discount Stores for the Holidays

According to Deloitte's 23rd Annual Holiday Survey of retail spending and trends, 59% of consumers expect to reduce their spending this holiday season. Higher food prices (73%) and higher energy prices (69%) were the top two reasons for spending less, outpacing the economy (61%) and job uncertainty (18%).

A record number of consumers say they are pessimistic about the economy. Over half of the respondents (53%) say they expect the economy to weaken next year, the highest in more than 10 years of asking this question, compared with 43% last year.

Categories in which spending is likely to be down the most from last year are

• Home improvements
• Home/holiday furnishings
• Non-gift clothing
• Socializing away from home
• Charitable donations
• Entertaining at home

Consumers also said they would buy fewer gifts this year, 21.5 gifts on average compared with 23.1 gifts last year, and they will spend an average of $532 on gifts this holiday season, down 6.5%.

Stacy Janiak, Deloitte's U.S. Retail Leader, says "... consumers appear to be reining in their non-essential holiday spending, while trying to preserve the tradition of gift-giving and the spirit of the holidays."

According to the report, 73% of consumers said the best value for the money will cause them to shop a particular retailer this season, and 72% said low prices. More consumers say they will shop at venues such as discount/value department stores, warehouse clubs, dollar stores, outlet stores, and off-prices stores. Drug stores and supermarkets also showed big increases from last year. In addition, flea markets (7%) and re-sale/used merchandise stores (6%) were cited as destinations by consumers.

Janiak notes that "... price-oriented retailers have an edge in this environment, as well as an opportunity to enhance their market share and positioning... (and) will likely not be penalized for their leaner staffing levels since consumers are focused on value rather than on other factors, such as customer service."

The report highlights that for the fifth straight year, gift cards are expected to be the top gift purchase. 66% of consumers surveyed plan to buy them, just slightly below last year's 69% of consumers. Holiday shoppers are also planning to buy fewer cards on average: 5.3 cards this year, compared with the 5.5 cards they planned to buy last year.

Gift cards for stores/products, though, are less popular, says the report: only 47 percent of consumers plan to buy them, compared with 54 percent last year. But, gift cards for gasoline increased to 17 percent from 13 percent, another sign of this year's focus on necessities.

23% of respondents, however, are concerned about the store closing before they can use a card, and 24% have had at least one card expire before they could use it.

 Janiak concludes that "... we could see a higher gift card redemption rate in January... (because of) the growing number of unused gift cards... (and) the current economic environment."

For the complete summary, and links to more data from Deloitte, please visit here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

The Changing Face of the Press Release

According to the Executive Summary of a study conducted by Fellows of the Society for New Communications Research and made possible by Vocus, the advent of new online communication channels, the goals, target audiences, and overall scope of press releases have transformed press releases themselves into a new communication tool used by public relations and marketing professionals alike.

The respondents' top goals for online press releases indicated that the traditional goals of increasing an organization's visibility and credibility and announcing news are now almost equally as important as new goals that include reaching customers directly, creating online content, and search engine optimization (SEO).

While PR professionals placed more importance on traditional goals such as announcing news and enhancing thought leadership, marketing professionals reported SEO and reaching consumers as important goals for their online press releases. Small business owners were concerned with using the release as a sales tool and reaching customers directly.

Both traditional media and new media emerged as the top two most important audiences respondents hoped to reach with their online press releases. Bloggers and new media followed traditional media in importance, but were a very close second, separated by only 0.28 points on a 1-5 scale.

In terms of target audiences for online press releases, significant differences emerged between marketing and public relations professionals. Although both marketing and public relations professionals reported more than average importance for reaching traditional media, consumers, and webmasters that will repurpose the release, PR professionals were consistently more interested than marketing professionals in reaching traditional media.

Marketing professionals were consistently more interested than PR practitioners in reaching new media or consumers directly. For example:

• PR professionals rated the importance of reaching traditional media an average 4.53 on a 1-5 scale, which is significantly higher than marketing professionals' rating of 3.82 
• Similarly, marketing professionals rated the importance of reaching webmasters with an average 3.49 on a 1-5 scale, which is significantly higher than PR practitioners' rating of only 2.83

These results indicate that online press releases have been adopted as a communications tool by the marketing profession, says the report, but are being used very differently than they have traditionally been used by public relations professionals.

The most frequently mentioned criterion for evaluating the success of online press releases was:

• The number of times the release has been republished on websites (79.6 percent)
• The number of times the release has been viewed online (76.8 percent)
• An article based on the release (75.4 percent)
• Media interview requests as a result of the release (74.2 percent)

Interestingly, although marketing and public relations professionals seem to use online press releases differently, there were no statistically significant differences between the two in terms of the criteria they use for evaluating success. In fact, the evaluation criteria were homogenous across different size organizations and industry sectors as well. The only statistically significant difference identified young communication practitioners (under 30 years of age) as more interested than the other age groups in obtaining coverage on blogs and social media sites.

Open-ended responses to a different survey question indicate that higher level indicators such as "eyeballs" and "dollar value" are desired evaluation criteria of online press releases, but communication professionals do not know how to measure them, concludes the study.

Very few respondents indicated using social media release formats (26.3 percent) and even fewer reported adding video (12.8 percent) or audio (9 percent) enhancements. Of all multimedia elements, photos were the most popular, used in online press releases by 49.5 percent of respondents. Even more puzzling is that less than half of respondents (48.8 percent) link to their own press releases after they have been posted online.

The most frequently mentioned challenges of online press releases, grouped into categories according to the main themes, were:

• Cutting through the clutter. This challenge speaks to the difficulty of getting a press release noticed in an information-rich environment. 
• Targeting and distribution. Respondents often find it difficult to identify and target the specific audience for their press releases.
• Measurement. Accurate evaluation of online press release results to include not only message distribution and exposure, but also evidence of audience receipt and behavior change was another perceived challenge.

Please visit here to retrieve the complete PDF Whitepaper release.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

MEDIAPOST’S

ONLINE MEDIA DAILY

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

New York, Chicago Test Digital Displays to Help Cover Revenue Shortfalls

By Andrew Hampp

Published: October 27, 2008

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- For New York and Chicago commuters, ads are starting to seem unavoidable, cropping up everywhere from subway turnstiles to digital banners on buses to the entire exteriors of subway cars. But the ad revenue has become essential to the long-term sustainability of the cities' transit authorities.

Take New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which is projecting a $900 million deficit for 2009 and needs all the extra revenue it can get before it resorts to hiking fares for millions of commuters. Jeremy Soffin, the agency's spokesperson, said the MTA was able to generate $106 million in ad revenue in 2007, and anticipates finishing 2008 with $125 million. However, should pilot projects with advertisers continue on a permanent basis, the agency anticipates a lift in ad revenue as high as 25% in 2009.

"The advertising revenue is a small fraction of our total budget," Mr. Soffin said. "We get about half of our funding directly from customers through fares and tolls -- mostly government subsidies, taxes and other revenue sources. But obviously every bit of additional revenue helps close that gap."

The MTA is in the midst of a 10-year contract worth $800 million with Titan Worldwide, an out-of-home-advertising company. Earlier this month, Titan began testing the first digital ads on buses in both New York and Chicago, bringing external video-enabled ads to public transportation for the first time. Advertisers in the test include Oreo, Dunkin' Donuts, Sleepy's mattresses and Sony Pictures, for the James Bond flick "Quantum of Solace."

Don Allman, president-CEO of Titan Worldwide, said the first round of tests have already started to show how the ads enhance the commuter experience. "We had it parked outside one of our clients' headquarters on Madison Avenue, and people stopped and stared and walked up to us," he said. "It showed us this is going to create incremental, non-fare-box revenue."

Ads with benefits
Titan is rolling out similar tests in Chicago, with which it has a separate 10-year contract signed in April and expected to generate about $101 million in new revenue, according to Chicago Transit Authority spokeswoman Catherine Hosinki. The extra ad dollars have become crucial for Chicago as well, which by law must cover 50% of its annual budget with revenue generated from fares, advertising and investment income.

Provided the new tests go well, Ms. Hosinki said she expects the CTA to equip 100 city buses and all 144 rail stations with 1,500 digital displays by next summer. An expansion is also being made to the city's subway platforms to keep riders informed with real-time travel information. "In addition to providing a venue for advertising, the digital display boards create a new channel for the CTA to communicate with its customers," Ms. Hosinki said in an e-mail.

Of course, transit ads aren't limited to ticketed venues. NBC Universal and ABC have been active in programming New York City's taxicabs with content and advertising in the past two years. Earlier this year, NBC expanded its out-of-home efforts under the umbrella of a new organization, NBC Everywhere, to include everything from gas stations, sports stadiums, grocery stores and maternity wards.

Up next is NBC in Transit, which will bring TV screens to Port Authority of New York and New Jersey PATH trains in the first quarter of 2009. Mark French, the group's senior VP-general manager, said the company is actively creating a dedicated programming schedule for the new network comprising networks such as NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo, Oxygen, USA and Sci-Fi during different parts of the day. "We're creating relevant content that you can display in some informative way and at the same time entertain and inform someone utilizing visuals," he said. "What you will not see is repurposed TV programming with closed captions scrolling at the bottom of the screen."

With the influx of ads destined to become a permanent part of New Yorkers and Chicagoans' daily commutes, customer research is already being conducted at each transit authority to gauge initial reception of the new ad formats. "Obviously in a city like New York, advertising can be pretty ubiquitous, so we have to be very mindful of the fact we're responsible for one of the city's great public spaces," the MTA's Mr. Soffin said. "It's a very democratic space. It's just about finding the right balance."

For more information visit www.adage.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Monday, October 27, 2008

Analyze This! Branded Candidates

According to the 2008 Presidential ImagePower Survey by Landor Associates and Penn, Schoen & Berland, James Bond and Jack Bauer (TV 24) would be heading into the final stretch of the U.S. presidential campaigns this month. The poll of likely voters sheds light, says the study, on various aspects of the nominees' identities by associating them with familiar brands across categories. For example, in the eyes of the public, Obama is associated with BMW, Target, and Google, while McCain is aligned with Ford, Walmart, and AOL.

According to the survey, voters' perceptions of candidate attributes finds Obama as charming, approachable, compassionate, intelligent and unifying, while McCain is seen as strong, reliable and respected. On the vice presidential side, Biden was identified as respected, strong, and reliable, while Palin'sattributes include trustworthy, "shares my values," and approachable, as well as unifying and credible -two qualities she shares with Obama.

Mary Ellen Dugan, executive director at Landor Associates, says "The study suggests that both campaigns have effectively co-branded to broaden and balance their appeal. Obama and Palin... (are associated) with similar positive key attributes, despite the strong surface distinctions between the two candidates... Likewise, Biden and McCain are both aligned with similar brands despite their deep policy disagreements."

The survey suggests that Obama and Palin have a lot in common, as do McCain and Biden, demonstrating that the VP candidates compensate for Obama and McCain's perceived weaknesses, at least brand-wise.

Scott Siff, executive vice president at Penn, Schoen & Berland, notes that "...Three of the key brands that McCain and Obama are both associated with... won their reputation as game-changers in their respective categories... This similarity in the candidates' brand strategies also indicates that whichever candidate best achieves the positioning they are both trying to claim may well be the winner on November 4."

For more information about this study, please visit here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

MediaPosts’s

ONLINE MEDIA DAILY

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Engaged Online Viewers Receptive to Advertising

According to a new study "Watching The Web: How Online Video Engages Audiences"  conducted by Forrester Consulting for Veoh Networks, , not all online video viewers are equal when it comes to advertising. While some online video viewers still only "snack" on short clips, there exists a large audience of young, influential, engaged viewers who watch a great deal of long-form online video and pay attention to the brand messages delivered to them in online video environments.

The study found that Engaged Viewers (viewers who watch more than an hour of online video a week) make up nearly 40% of all online video viewers and watch nearly 75% of all online video. Of these Engaged Viewers, those who spend the most time consuming and sharing long-form content:

• Are more likely to watch videos all the way through
• Pay more attention to online video more than they do TV
• Interact with and rate the videos they watch more frequently
• Are twice as likely to recall in-video ads and post-rolls than non-Engaged Viewers
• Agree more readily that advertising is fair and helps pay for their free experience
• Consider banner ads and ads that come in between videos (mid-rolls) most effective

Steve Mitgang, CEO of Veoh Networks, opines "...online video viewing... will create many new opportunities for content providers and advertisers... advertisers (should) re-think their approaches to marketing... to captivate these valuable viewers as they drive online video into a mainstream entertainment medium."

The study found that online video viewing For Engaged Viewers is not a fad but rather a growing consumer habit:

• 61% of Engaged Viewers expect to spend significantly more time watching online video
• 13- to 24-year-olds make up only 15% of the online population, but represent more than 35% of Engaged online video viewers
• Engaged Viewers watch an average of 6 kinds of video content, from animation to TV shows to movie trailers, during the course of a month

The study further segmented Engaged Viewers into three sub-groups based on time spent watching video, types of videos watched, comfort level managing the video viewing experience, propensity to share videos, and amount of attention paid to online video compared to TV:

• Watchers, those who spend just over an hour watching video each week and don't engage the experience deeply by controlling playback or sharing videos
• Controllers, those younger viewers take an active role in controlling their video experiences and feel that online video is important to their lives
• Connectors, though just 7% of online viewers, consume 20% of all online video and do 42% of all online video sharing

The most desirable viewers - Connectors and Controllers - watch long-form video more often than Watchers do, so sites that offer a great deal of long-form video are the ideal places to reach them. Long-form video sites not only attract these viewers, but they also foster an environment that secures more viewer attention and engagement with advertising. Connectors are significantly more likely to notice brands and feel ads are useful when presented with products they are interested in.

As online video viewing matures, advertisers can take advantage of the unique opportunity to reach valuable Engaged Viewers by considering these findings, concludes the report:

• Engaged video viewers are more open to enjoying the advertising they watch giving marketers an opportunity to create ads that are as entertaining as the video clips they are paired with.
• Engaged video viewers are more involved in every aspect of the viewing experience, including the advertising.
• Engaged viewers respond to ad formats that don't intrude unfairly. Their preference for banner ads supports this. But banner ads can be supported by a comprehensive ad experience
• As more viewers spend more than an hour a week viewing online video, advertisers can match ads to viewers with long-form content, where the choice of programming defines the  viewer

For more information on the study, please visit here

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

CMO Nick Utton and Spark's Ken Zasky Share Tips on How to Survive a Credit Crisis

By Natalie Zmuda

Published: October 20, 2008

ORLANDO, Fla. (AdAge.com) -- E-Trade Financial may have had a startling fall from grace a year ago, but the fact that it's still around offers hope for today's battered financial companies, the marketer and its media agency told an audience during the Oct. 19 general session of the Association of National Advertisers' annual conference.

Nick Utton, chief marketing officer at E-Trade, and Ken Zasky, president of Spark Communications, shared their playbook for how to survive a credit crisis. On Nov. 9 of last year, E-Trade admitted that it wouldn't be able to stick by profit forecasts, as subprime loans and mortgage-backed debt took their toll. Then, on Nov. 13, its stock plummeted nearly 60% following an analyst's use of the word "bankruptcy" in connection with the financial-services firm. Terrified investors pulled out more than $6 billion in assets between November and December.

Mr. Zasky said that the day E-Trade's crisis took hold, he was able to get Mr. Utton on the phone within 10 minutes. That good client-agency relationship enabled the pair to quickly come up with ideas for how to handle the situation.

No riding it out
"Speed is not negotiable with Nick," Mr. Zasky said. "Speed went a long way to making sure it didn't get out of hand. ... The first instinct may be to ride it out, but you can't ride it out in the basement."

E-Trade moved quickly to reassure panicked investors. It issued statements saying it was not going bankrupt, and it evaluated its advertising. Mr. Zasky said the firm went out and used every channel available, including high-profile digital advertising units on sites such as Wall Street Journal Online. E-Trade also evaluated which media sources led to higher-quality signups for new accounts, meaning consumers who were more active with their trading. Online, that led to the elimination of several websites that historically had been a large part of the media plan.

Once it had taken steps to reassure customers, E-Trade turned its attention to reassuring media partners that bills would be paid.

"When a crisis hits, being out of sight is the same thing as being out of mind," said Mr. Utton. "The message needs to be out there; you need to spend."

Where it spent
And spend E-Trade did, purchasing two high-profile Super Bowl spots in February. In creating the campaign, Mr. Zasky and Mr. Utton said it was important that the approach be people-focused, leading to a series of ads shot as if from a webcam of a talking baby buying stock over the internet using E-Trade. "Baby," created by WPP Group's Grey, New York, won the top slot in TiVo's annual Super Bowl commercial chart.

"It takes years and years and years to build up a good brand and you could lose the brand overnight," Mr. Utton said. "We went through a scary moment where consumer confidence had a huge question mark next to it." His advice: "Be honest. Be direct. Be transparent to the consumers."

Today, E-Trade has won back consumers, touting 1,000 new accounts every day. But it's still not immune to the current financial turmoil, as earnings continue to be hard hit. A loss is expected for the third quarter, the results of which will be announced tomorrow.

"I wish I knew," Mr. Utton said, when asked how the crisis would unfold. "I don't want to be a pessimist; I'm being a pragmatist. The storm will continue. Hopefully, it bottoms out and moves out. In between we'll work very closely with our partners and our brand ambassadors."

For more information visit www.adage.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR ONLINE RESEARCH

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Online Ad Price Decline Drives Need for Accountability and Measurability

Online Ad Price Decline Drives Need for Accountability and Measurability

According to the PubMatic AdPrice Index for Q3 2008, online ad prices declined overall this past year by 27%. Small sites continue to command better pricing for eCPMs, now at $0.61 on average in Q3, but these price levels have been declining quarter-to-quarter in 2008. eCPMs for large sites held steady in Q3, but at a lower pricing base of $0.18.

Data from PubMatic AdPrice Index for Q3 2008 show that:

• The online ad price decline from Q2 to Q3 in 2008 was 21%; throughout the year, display advertising pricing has generally trended downwards across website sizes and verticals
• The Business & Finance vertical remained relatively healthy with $0.86 eCPMs, bucking the trend for the rest of the industry
• eCPMs for Gaming are down 34% from Q1 2008, but there may be improvement as the holiday season draws near, where gaming companies increase marketing efforts to drive sales
• The Social Networks vertical continues to experience weak $0.20 eCPMs, driving the segment to continue exploring new and non-traditional marketing methods to leverage billions of pageviews
• Technology sites have remained constant throughout the past few quarters with $0.50 eCPMs
• Entertainment had the most significant drop of all the verticals, dropping 42% from Q1 to Q3

Rajeev Goel, president and co-founder of PubMatic, said "Online advertising is one of the key indicators in the U.S. economy, as marketing spend is typically one of the early cuts when realigning corporate expenses... the measurability of the Internet shouldn't be discounted. This overall downward trend in the economy may be a call to marketers to segment more of their budgets... that allow them to better measure ROI."

Key takeaways from the current study:

• Smaller sites are affected more closely by the economy, which causes dramatic pricing fluctuations
• The comparatively higher rates for small sites are caused by a lack of sales force resources, where they rely primarily on ad networks to monetize unsold premium inventory, which is normally sold through a direct sales force
• The political cycle and holiday season could affect ad prices in the short term
• The steady growth in online advertising continues to drive the creation of new ad networks; the change in the economy may favor ad networks that do a better job of measuring value and who can manage their costs according to the fluctuations of ad campaigns

To read the complete release, visit here. Or, The Q3 2008 AdPrice Index is available as a white paper here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Monday, October 20, 2008

Magazine Ad Revenues Down

According to the Publishers Information Bureau (PIB), total magazine rate-card-reported advertising revenue through the first three quarters of 2008 closed at $18,452,988,859, posting a 5% decline against the previous year, There were 164,125 ad pages generated through the first three quarters of the year, a drop of 9.5% compared to the same period in 2007.

And, for the third quarter, total magazine rate-card-reported advertising revenue was an 8.8% decrease compared to 2007's third quarter.  There were 52,778 advertising pages in the third quarter, a drop of 12.9% compared to the same period in 2007.

Year to date only three categories posted gains in revenue vs. the first three quarters of 2007:  Retail, Food & Food Products, and Public Transportation, Hotels & Resorts. Overall, magazine advertising was negatively impacted by the ongoing weakness in the economy for the first three quarters of 2008. 

Ellen Oppenheim, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Magazine Publishers of America, noted that "...Consumers have cut spending and advertisers have followed suit.  It's affected every ad category and every ad-supported sector of the media industry."

For YTD magazine totals, please go here.

For 3Q magazine totals, please go here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Friday, October 17, 2008

Holiday Spending Down Some; 1/3 Start Shopping Before Thanksgiving; Halloween For Revelers

Though holiday sales this year have been reported to be the weakest in 17 years, TNS Retail Forward forecasts 1.5% growth, compared with 1.2% in 1991, for the holiday fourth quarter in the key holiday retail segments combined.

Online sales across retail channels are forecast to grow 9% this holiday season compared with 19% in 2007. TNS forecasts online sales to reach $42.5 billion in the fourth quarter up $3.5 billion from the prior year.

According to the TNS study, key retail sector holiday sales performance looks like this:

• TNS forecasts a 5.6% combined growth for mass retailers, with a shopper shift toward value formats and the impact of higher food prices. Supercenters and warehouse clubs will remain among the best retail performers while discount department stores will be the laggard.
• Apparel and accessory retailers will take a toll on the softgoods sector this holiday season, expected to decline 1.3% in the aggregate in the holiday period compared with flat growth in 2007.
• Homegoods channels expected to decline this holiday by 1.0%.  Furniture and home furnishings stores will experience the biggest deterioration, while Home improvement store sales are forecast to decline 1.0%.
• Consumer electronics stores are the exception in the channel with holiday sales growth forecast at 4.0%, partly because of sustained buying to prepare for the conversion to digital TV signals

A new Mediamark (MRI) Omnibus study finds that 62.3 million adult consumers will begin holiday shopping before Thanksgiving, while thirty-six percent of holiday shoppers say they begin shopping between Thanksgiving and December 15th, and 26% start their shopping between December 16th and 23rd. Approximately 2% of holiday shoppers don't begin their holiday shopping until Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

Early shoppers combing retail shelves and online shopping sites before Black Friday:

• 62% of shoppers are women, and are 18% more likely than holiday shoppers in general to begin shopping before Thanksgiving
• 38% of early shoppers are Boomers, and they are 11% more like than holiday shoppers in general to be out there early
• 13% of early shoppers are more likely than holiday shoppers in general to have bought at least one toy in the last 12 months, and they are 18% more likely to have bought 10 or more toys in the last 12 months
• 9% are more likely to have given a personal wish list of gifts that they hope to receive to their family and their friends.

Anne Marie Kelly, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Planning at MRI, concludes that  "Black Friday may be the traditional start of the holiday shopping season but... its strength has diminished as millions of Americans begin their shopping before Thanksgiving... "

And, not to be forgotten, more consumers plan to celebrate Halloween this year (64.5% vs. 58.7%), with the average person spending $66.54 on the holiday, up from $64.82 one year ago. Total Halloween spending for 2008 is estimated to reach $5.77 billion, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF) and BIG Research

This year, says the study:

• Consumers will spend an average of $24.17 on Halloween costumes
• People will spend, on average, $20.39 on candy
• $18.25 on decorations
• $3.73 on greetting cards
• And, 18-24 year-olds plan to spend $86.59 on the holiday, the most of any group??

People will celebrate Halloween in a variety of ways,

• Handing out candy (73.7%)
• Carving a pumpkin (44.6%)
• Decorating (50.3%)
• Dress in costume (35.3%)
• Throw or attend a party (31.1%)
• Take children trick-or-treating (33.6%)?

Phil Rist, Vice President of Strategy for BIGresearch, says "After months of bleak economic news, consumers are looking for a reason to let loose... and with Halloween falling on a Friday this year, consumers may plan to celebrate all weekend long."

For more on the NRF/BIGresearch Halloween study, please visit here.

For more information about the MRI Holiday Shopping Study, and a PDF file, please visit MediaMark here.

For more information from TNS about the forecast, please visit here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Digital Ad Spend Up At The Expense of Traditional

According to a new Epsilon CMO Survey, Chief Marketing Officers at many of the biggest brands in the nation are seeing a major shift in the marketing landscape. 63% of the 175 marketing executives surveyed see an increase in their spending on interactive/digital marketing while 59% report a decrease in traditional marketing spend.

65% of CMOs say that the money spent on advertising as a whole will decrease due to the current economy. In contrast, 94% of CMOs and marketing executives agreed with the statement, 'A tough economic period is precisely the time when marketing plays a key role.'

When asked how their firm determines their target market for each channel:

• 50% stated that they use data driven marketing techniques
• 31% of respondents agreed that they use sophisticated modeling tools to analyze existing customer behavioral, preference and demographic data
• 19% said that they analyze past purchase behavior
• 28% said they made rough estimates based on past experience

Mike Iaccarino, CEO of Epsilon, says "... marketing executives are seeking accountability and measurable results. Data driven marketing is an increasingly important component of corporate marketing campaigns... "

CMOs of the biggest brands have been early adopters of new media with social computing and blogs receiving the most interest whereas instant messaging and interactive TV ads were the least popular.

• Social computing (including word of mouth, social networking sites, viral advertising, etc.) was the most popular emerging channel with 42% of marketing executives expressing interest in adding it to their marketing mix
• Blogs were the second most popular emerging channel: 35% of marketing executives want to pursue blogs and 19% already use blogs
• Almost one-third of CMOs mentioned Podcasting as an area of interest: 31% are interested in adding Podcasting to their marketing mix and 18% already have.
• Mobile devices also elicited interest: 29% are interested in Mobile Devices (Phones/PDAs) and 22% have added them to their marketing mix

Senior marketing executives anticipate further cuts, says the study, but are confident that they will be able to manage their budgets by focusing spending where it will have the greatest impact. As the overall marketing pool diminishes, the budget for interactive and digital marketing is dramatically increasing, while that for traditional marketing continues to shrink toward interactive, digital marketing:

 Interactive/Digital Marketing:

• Decreased... 14%
• Increased... 63%
• Stayed the same... 23%

While Traditional Marketing

• Decreased... 59%
• Increased... 13%
• Stayed the same... 29%

Source: Epsilon, September 2008

The survey included 175 U.S. Chief Marketing Officers and marketing executives of some of the largest brands in the nation. 27% of respondents work at companies with $10 billion or more in annual revenues last year.

For additional information and a PDF file, please visit here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Urban and Spanish-Language Stations Dominate Major Radio Markets

According to Arbitron's September Portable People Meter (PPM) radio ratings, African Americans and Spanish-dominant Hispanics have the highest radio listening levels of all demographic groups, and continue to propel urban and Spanish-language stations to the top in major US markets, including New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

How to read: In New York, the average audience in any quarter hour Monday-Sunday 6am-Midnight consists of 11.9 percent of all African Americans in the market...

The September PPM survey month covered the period from August 21 to September 17, and rated stations in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Nassau-Suffolk (NY), Middlesex-Somerset-Union (NJ), Riverside-San Bernardino (CA), and San Jose. Key market findings:

In New York, the Steve Harvey Show on WBLS-FM tied with news station WINS-AM for number one among listeners age 25-54 in the a.m. drive.

Chicago, "Piolin por La Mañana" on WOJO-FM was #1 among 18-34 year-olds in the a.m. drive, after Univision Radio revamped its morning moving "Piolin por La Mañana," to WOJO-FM and resulting in a steady audience increase.

How to read: In the Morning Drive daypart, Monday-Friday 6am-10am, 8.9 percent of all radio listening by Persons aged 18-34 in the Chicago Radio metro was to WOJO-FM.

In San Francisco, Hip-Hop/R&B on KMEL-FM was number one among those age 18-34. The Clear Channel station has been a consistent top performer and had the highest ratings among those age 18-34 for the total broadcast week.

How to read: For the total broadcast week, Monday-Sunday 6am-Midnight, 10.8 percent of all radio listening by Persons aged 18-34 in the San Francisco metro was to KMEL-FM.

In Riverside-San Bernardino, Spanish Adult Hits on KLYY-FM was first among those age 25-54. Radio José FM 97.5, Entravision Communications' Spanish adult hits station, has been a consistent top performer and held the top spot in ratings for the total broadcast week.

How to read: For the total broadcast week, Monday-Sunday 6am-Midnight, 8.8 percent of all radio listening by Persons aged 25-54 in the Riverside-San Bernardino metro was to KLYY-FM.

For more details from Arbitron, please go here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

Report Examines the New Currency's Impact on Marketers, Agencies and Networks

By Claire Atkinson

Published: October 13, 2008

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- In 2007, after decades of lobbying by marketers, what had long been considered the holy grail of TV ad measurement seemed to have become a reality: Commercial ratings became the currency of the $70 billion national TV market, replacing 65 years of program ratings.

Instead of measuring the number of people watching the programs and using that as a proxy for the total number of advertising viewers, the marketing world would finally find out how many people were actually watching each commercial. Or at least that was the general idea. As the 2008-2009 TV season gets under way, advertisers still are not exactly sure how their TV efforts are faring under the new currency. This is, in part, because last year's numbers were atypical, affected as they were by a broadcast business that was saturated with repeats of old shows, largely as a result of the writers strike.

For this paper Advertising Age conducted an exhaustive study into commercial ratings (a precise definition will come later) to ascertain whether the change worked out well for marketers, what challenges remain, and how commercial ratings have altered the business in ways both expected and unforeseen.

For more information visit www.adage.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Monday, October 13, 2008

Personal Information Online Disturbs Consumers

A poll recently released by the Consumer Reports National Research Center shows that 82% of consumers are concerned about their credit card numbers being stolen online, while 72% are concerned that their online behaviors were being tracked and profiled by companies.

Although 68% of consumers have provided personal information in order to access a website, 53% are uncomfortable with internet companies using their email content or browsing history to send relevant ads, and 54% are uncomfortable with third parties collecting information about their online behavior.

The poll revealed that 93% of Americans think internet companies should always ask for permission before using personal information, and 72% want the right to opt out when companies track their online behavior.

Joel Kelsey, policy analyst with Consumers Union, said "Americans are clearly concerned... the vast majority of consumers want more control over their personal information online... "

The poll shows that consumers are trying to take steps to limit the information that is being collected and shared about them online. For example:

• 35% use alternate email addresses to avoid providing real information
• 26% have used software that hides their identity
• 25% have provided fake information to access a website

Consumers are aware that information about their surfing habits is being collected online, but many are not aware of what companies are able to do with their information. Among the other findings of the poll:

• 61% are confident that what they do online is private and not shared without their permission
• 57% incorrectly believe that companies must identify themselves and indicate why they are collecting data and whether they intend to share it with other organizations
• 48% incorrectly believe their consent is required for companies to use the personal information they collect from online activities
• 43% incorrectly believe a court order is required to monitor activities online

Kelsey concludes that "Many consumers have misconceptions about the information available about them and how commonly it is sold by companies without their knowledge..."

For more information, please view the Consumer's Union here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Consumers Want to Interact With Companies on Social Media

According to the findings of the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study, almost 60% of Americans interact with companies on a social media Web site, and one in four interact more than once per week. The survey finds that 93% of Americans believe a company should have a presence in social media, while 85% believe a company should not only be present, but should also interact with its consumers via social media.

56% of American consumers feel both a stronger connection with, and better served by, companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.

Mike Hollywood, director of new media for Cone, observes that "... social media... it isn't an intrusion into their lives, but rather a welcome channel for discussion."

When Americans were asked about specific types of interactions:

• 43% say that companies should use social networks to solve my problems
• 41% want companies to solicit feedback on their products and services
• 37% feel that companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand
• 33% of men and 17% of women interact frequently (one or more times per week) with companies via social media

 "The ease and efficiency of online conversation is likely a draw for men who historically do not seek out the same level of interaction with companies as women," says Hollywood.

33% of younger, hard-to-reach consumers (ages 18-34), believe companies should actively market to them via social networks, and the same is true of the wealthiest households (household income of $75,000+). Two-thirds of the wealthiest households and the largest households (3 or more members) feel stronger connections to brands they interact with online.

And eMarketer reports that Generation Y (those born after 1979) online buyers are more immersed in online and mobile activities than any other generation, according to 2008 research from shopping comparison site PriceGrabber. Some 85% of Gen Y respondents said they participated in social networking, and 57% reported involvement with blogs.

Data from an August 2008 survey of Web merchants, sponsored by Internet Retailer, found that, of the 39.3% of retail respondents that use social networks, 32% have a page on Facebook, 27% on MySpace and 26% on YouTube.

Hollywood concludes that "All of this is great news for marketers... men and younger consumers are traditionally the most challenging to reach... (and) they are saying... market to us and interact with us online... "

For more information about this study, please visit Cone Research here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Media Buyers Will Watch Online and TV For Most Campaigns

According to eMarketer's recent prognosis for online video advertising, the market will take until 2010 to surpass the $1-billion mark, while beyond 2010 huge additional sums will go to online video advertising each succeeding year.

The report concludes that more trusted video content to sustain advertising, and more large advertisers seeing enough scale to enter this market in a big way, will support that growth.

While only 2% of total Internet ad spending will go to video in 2008, that share will be nearly five times higher by the end of 2013.

Further, says the report, as total Internet ad spending approaches total television ad levels in 2013, it will become commonplace for media buyers looking to both online and TV for most campaigns, even in the upfront market.

EMarketer estimates that by 2012 four out of five Internet users will view video ads, projected to 183.3 million viewers in 2013.

NB: Online video advertising viewer is defined as an individual who sees any form or video advertising (in-stream, in-banner, in-text) at least once a month.

For more information from eMarketer about the study, please visit here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

 Monday, October 6, 2008

Business Travel Spending A Mixed Bag

According to a new business travel survey conducted by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE), 36% of the respondents said they'd be spending more on business travel next year, 33% indicated they'd be spending less, and 31% said they'd be spending the same.

ACTE Executive Director, Susan Gurley, expects that those spending the same would ultimately be traveling less as the cost of travel has climbed significantly, and "...even those who stated they are spending more may find they are barely keeping up with cost increases."

The number one cause of the cutbacks in travel spending, according to 47% of the survey's respondents, is a combination of economic uncertainty and rising fuel costs. (15% cited the economy alone as did 12% for fuel costs.) 26% cited other reasons such as internal changes and a restructuring of business focus.

"Equally significant is the manner in which corporate travel managers are directing the cutbacks," said Gurley:

31% are cutting back on travel straight across the board

39% percent are cutting back on internal meetings

16% are reducing international travel

9% have eliminated training trips as part of their agenda

14% cited other means

Gurley said "Many international travel markets thought the economic downturn was restricted to the United States... yet the fuel crisis hit everyone at the same time... "

The credit crisis has leapfrogged to a number of European financial institutions, says the report. Anticipating these developments, the ACTE has been focusing on value management, strategic meetings management and demand management, to discourage the decision to simply cut travel across the board.

For more information, visit ACTE here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Friday, October 3, 2008

Despite Electronics, Most Girls 2-14 Stick With Traditional Toys

According to a new report from The NPD Group, girls age two to 14 are spending more time this year on entertainment-related activities than they did in 2007, with more than half saying they spend more time using CE devices, and playing PC games and video games.

Pre-schoolers age 2-5 are highly engaged with toys,  including:

• Plush/stuffed toys,
• Dolls, fashion role-play
• Puzzles
• Educational toys

First Readers (age 6-8) are more inclined to play with

• Board games,
• Arts & crafts, and
• Virtual world games

Pre-teen girls age 9-12, despite the natural progression away from traditional toys to games and electronics, are spending more time this year playing with traditional toys compared to last year.

Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group, says: "... even in this digital age over 50 percent of girls ages 2-14 engage with dolls, plush, and arts & crafts in a given week... a testament to the evergreen nature of these types of activities for girls."

Tweens (age 9-12) are migrating to computer and video games, especially virtual world online games.  Socialization is gearing up among the pre-teens, and the advent of interactive gaming hits home with these girls who are looking for friends from the confines of their homes. 

Young Teens (age 13-14) are also gamers, but many girls this age are also now listening to music on portable digital music players and talking/texting on their mobile phones, according to the report.

Frazier notes that  "... the growth in use of social networking and virtual world websites by girls... needs to be recognized by manufacturers who count girls as a primary market for their goods and services."

Fashion Apparel & Accessories, and Books, Music & Videos are the top two categories that maintain a high level of popularity across all age groups, and appear to be insulated from the age-factor.  In terms of favorite gifts, gift cards are the top choice for most girls, with gift cards being purchased 50 percent of the time.

Find out more about "Girl Power: Understanding This Important Consumer Segment" here.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

RESEARCH BRIEF

FROM THE CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Over-Content Ads Becoming More Acceptable

Comments on a part of the Dynamic Logic AdReaction 5 Study, released recently, show that consumers continue to feel that the "appropriate" number of ads that appear over the content of the Web pages they are browsing is two per hour. This number is consistent with the results for the same question asked in previous surveys conducted in 2003 and 2005. A median was used, as opposed to mean, since the distribution curve is asymmetrical.

There continue to be people who feel that over-content, or "intrusive" ads, are never appropriate, even to support free Web content, but this amounts to roughly one in four people (21%), says the report. The majority of U.S. respondents feel that some over-content ads are appropriate to support free content and that number centers around two over-content ads per hour (a calculation based on median number).

This AdReaction study also noted that two-thirds of respondents felt advertising on the Web sites they visit has increased over the past six months. Compared to the results of this question in 2005, 66% of the respondents say online advertising has increased compared to 57% previously.

The report says that  based on prior research conducted around clutter, there are two main reasons why consumers perceive an increase in online advertising.

Firstly, over the last few years Web surfers have begun to broaden the number and types of Web sites they visit. Someone who used to visit a major portal to check mail and news now may go to a variety of sites... the so-called "long-tail of the Web." Consumers' usage of a wider variety of sites may be resulting in their perception of increased overall clutter, since one is more likely to see a greater percentage of intrusive ad formats and a larger number of ads in general.

And, as more and more big brands come online, people "see" more advertising than they used to. Online ads are more noticeable than before and this adds to the perception that clutter is increasing.

While it is safe to assume that consumers want less advertising rather than more, the most promising finding for advertisers and online publishers from this research, concludes the report, is that the percentage of people who feel that no over-content ads are appropriate has dropped from 32% in 2003 to 21% in this latest study, suggesting that people may be more willing to accept some advertising in exchange for viewing free content.

For additional information about the research, please visit Dynamic Logic here.          

For more information visit www.mediapost.com.

Why Marketers Use Them, Why They Often Don't Work and What to Do Instead

Posted by Mark Cregar on 09.29.08 @ 05:24 PM

Once upon a time -- say, 2002 -- digital spending was a negligible portion of total marketing budgets and we lived in a world where few marketers would dare go "beyond the banner." Fast-forward to 2008, and in some cases we have the opposite problem. Digital spending is still too low, but in the spirit of wanting to appear current, some marketers have rushed to embrace any and every new digital tactic.

This has resulted in a scenario where some digital tactics are dangerously close to "jumping the shark." Everyone is doing them, so they're not original anymore. They generally are not done well (i.e., in a way that builds brand equity, awareness or sales), and they may be so commonplace that rather than making a brand seem current or hip, they have the opposite effect.

Here are my top five:

The Social Network Page
The offense: In 2006 every brand had to have a MySpace page; now they have an equally urgent need for a Facebook page. The result is usually the equivalent of an online ad hidden within the vast reaches of a social network, adding little value to consumers or the brand.
The offenders: A look at a few major consumer brands (Sprite, Skippy Peanut Butter, Gatorade) shows Facebook pages with little more than a boilerplate brand description and a link to the corporate URL. It looks like some marketing departments have been on a friend collection tear, though. These dull profiles mysteriously seem to attract thousands of "friends," though wall posts number in the low double digits, suggesting very low engagement.
They might try: Building a profile that reflects a brand's unique provenance, personality or benefits. Brand groups agonize over building and evangelizing the perfect brand persona. Here's a chance to showcase all that hard work.

The Second Life Storefront
The offense: Countless companies have set up storefronts in this media-genic virtual world. But high development costs ($100,000 to as much as $5 million), high maintenance requirements and low overall usage (about 30,000 visitors at any given time) have produced lukewarm results. Hence, Second Life's recent ranking by marketers as the most overhyped trend of 2007.
The offenders: Apparel retailers such as American Apparel, Nike and Reebok; auto companies, such as Nissan; and hotels, such as Starwood's Aloft brand have all jumped in. 1-800-Flowers.com even hired a specialized agency to market their storefront, but still garnered fewer than 1,000 visitors.
They might try: Incorporating their brands into much simpler, mass market digital activities like casual games. Some are played millions of times and let you measure engagement more specifically than ever.

The Online Ad Contest
The offense: Who needs creatives -- or even a creative strategy -- when you can crowdsource your ads? Aside from the obvious strategy and quality issues, the tactic suffers from ubiquity and anemic entry numbers (rarely more than a hundred or two).
The offenders: Budding commercial auteurs must be feeling pretty exhausted these days after entering videos for Doritos, Chevrolet, the NFL, Country Music Television, Nikon, Malibu Rum, Heinz, Dove, Firefox, Converse, MasterCard, Sunkist and Coors Light -- to name a few.
They might try: Using those masses to get feedback on a spot that is at least on strategy, regardless of where it came from. Anyone who has sat through a focus group knows that consumers are much better at responding to marketing than creating it themselves.

The Social Network
The offense: Why have a Facebook page when you can have a Facebook? Marketers attempt to build fanatical followings for their brands by establishing their own social networks around them. Problem is, social networks don't create brand passion -- they can only leverage passion that already exists.
The Offenders: Do you have the need to build a profile around your menstrual cycle? Kotex thinks so, and responds with not one but two social networks (one for girls, one for women). You can also build a profile on sites from Neutrogena, Saturn and -- watch out, LinkedIn -- HSBC Bank, which lets you build a profile to "tap into the expertise of your fellow entrepreneurs." Even the megabrands rarely generate more than 1,000 to 2,000 profiles (HSBC has about 300), so users should expect to be a part of a pretty tight little clique.
They might try: Think about first building passion for the brand through dull, old-school tactics like stellar customer service, product innovation and compelling marketing. Then marketers are permitted to build that social network. For a good example, see Mini Cooper. Until then, most brands can make do with simpler tactics like message boards and e-newsletters.

The Online Branded Entertainment Series
The offense: Since 30-second spots haven't worked for years, marketers have decided to create their own entertainment with online webisodes, series and animated shorts, subtly or not-so-subtly weaving in their brands. Trouble is, even entertainment made to entertain (e.g., TV shows) more often than not misses the mark -- so it's doubly difficult to create something that will be compelling and sell your brand. As a result, most of this entertainment fails to entertain.
The offenders: Bud.TV decided to pull back after a very costly investment in its own branded entertainment portal. Toyota's iflookscouldkill.com series makes me long for the Toyotathon spots of yesteryear.
They might try: I'd suggest either integrating your brand into something already interesting (e.g., Stride Gum's sponsorship of the Matt Harding dance video) or just giving proven creative types free rein (BMW film series) and see what happens.

I applaud the spirit of experimentation, and no doubt all of the above "offenders" have learned something from their efforts. And there's really no such thing as a bad marketing tactic -- just bad timing, bad execution or simply a bad brand fit. All good things that marketers might want to think about before plunging into the next digital marketing trend.

~~~
Mark Cregar is president-principal of Emerging Marketing Consulting. He has held senior-level marketing posts at Disney, Warner Bros., Coca-Cola and Nabisco. His views on digital marketing trends can be found at www.emergingmarketing.blogspot.com.