ANA Marketing Maestros

What do E-readers Mean for the Publishing Industry?

By Cara Brooke Schultz

Everyone wants to find the solution for the troubled publishing industry. Recently there has been a lot of hype around the e-reader phenomenon—Barnes and Noble released their version called the Nook, Amazon came out with a larger-screen version of the Kindle, and Sony has a touch screen edition. So what does this mean for the publishing industry—will people flock to the e-readers and begin paying for content again?

According to a recent article by AdWeek, “’There is an optimism among publishers,’ says Roger Fidler, program director for digital publishing at Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri. ‘But nobody is seriously saying this is going to save the industry.’”  

I personally bought my Kindle less than a year ago, shortly after Amazon released their second version, and I have to say I fell in love with my Kindle at first use. I am an avid reader, in fact I’ll read pretty much anything—from advertisements on the Subway to the NYTimes, so I think I fit Amazon’s target audience, however what about the main population? Will the e-reader trend catch on like the iPhone?

Here are a few of the reasons other people might find e-readers to be appealing:

1.    They are more environmentally friendly.

2.    No more lugging around multiple hard cover (or paperback) books. One e-reader can hold hundreds if not thousands of books, newspapers, magazines, even blogs—and e-readers usually weigh around 11 ounces.

3.    You can read multiple items at once. For example you can read the NYTimes on the train and then switch over to TIME magazine in seconds without elbowing the guy next to you.

4.     You can download new material in seconds, almost anywhere.

What do you think the benefits or disadvantages of e-readers are? Will you buy one?

 

The “Stigma” Associated with Social Media Sites for Companies—Does it Exist?

By Cara Schultz

Some companies are diving right into social media Websites, while other companies are slightly more hesitant when it comes to setting up a Facebook page or Twitter account. Although the idea of a disgruntled customer leaving negative feedback can be a bit intimidating to any company, a recent study from Pennsylvania State University confirmed that is usually not the case. After studying nearly 150,000 tweets, they came to a few positive conclusions. An article posted by eMarketer states, “Just 22.3% of tweets about brands expressed an opinion one way or another. The good news: Twitter users were much more likely to express positive sentiments than negative.”

   

What are your reservations with jumping on the social media bandwagon? Have you had a positive experience with social media sites and your customers? Chime in with your thoughts and opinions; we love to hear what you have to say!

Drawing Attention to Yourself by Going Local

By Adrienne Tallacksen

My daily commute takes me past a local gym. I always look forward to checking out the latest advertisement they have to get people in the door, which is posted on a chalkboard easel on the sidewalk. The handwritten ads sometimes feature quotes (always altered in some way to play up the fitness angle), sometimes verge on offensive (needling those who might not be physically fit), and sometimes they aren't ads at all (a simple "YAY!" was posted on November 5th after President Obama was elected). The messages are often targeted to the Jersey City, NJ audience with references to local restaurants and even our most recent political scandal. Above all, the ads are clever and witty and almost always get my attention.

The gym is part of a small New York/New Jersey chain, so it may be easier for it to target the local audience than it would be for a national advertiser. But new tools are making targeted ads possible on a larger scale. At a meeting of the ANA's Television Advertising Committee Meeting in March, committee members learned about how Canoe Ventures is using community addressable advertising to target television viewers in different markets.

When an ad is targeted at people who live in my community, I feel like I can relate to the advertiser, even if I might not be interested in its product. This can be a powerful connection for marketers to make with consumers.

Getting the Most Out of Your Social Media Campaigns

By Irina Skaya

A recent ANA/BtoB Magazine/Mktg survey reported that 66 percent of marketers utilized social media in 2009 compared to 20 percent in 2007.  In order to fund their new media efforts, 55 percent of marketers have already shifted funds from their traditional media budgets. In 2009 Web site ownership, search engine marketing and display advertising are among the new media platforms that received the most funding. And in 2010, blogs, mobile and video are supposed to be at the top of the list.

According to the survey, The top concerns for marketers when considering newer media platforms are the inability to prove ROI (45 percent) and having metrics to properly allocate the mix of traditional and digital media (43 percent).  Social media analytics is young and most marketers do not know where to start.  First thing is first: know what your objective is, what you are trying to measure. Do you want to know what people are saying about your brands? Do you want to see how people are interacting with your brands on specific social networks? Or do you just simply want to know upcoming social media trends or maybe what your competitors are doing in the social media space?

As the social media guru of the ANA, I always look for new measuring and monitoring social media tools. I came up with a social media metrics superlist-my favorite online tools that will help marketers get started with social media analytics.

PS. They are all free!

• Twitalyzer: measures brands' and individuals' impact and success on Twitter by reporting on relative influence, signal-to-noise ratio, generosity, velocity, clout.
• Keotag: monitors mentions of your brands across dozens of Web sites, including Technorati, Blog Pulse, Google Blog, del.icio.us, Blinklist, Twitter, Bluedot, Newsvine, Digg, Blog Lines, YouTube, and more.
• Trackur: a 14-day free trial allows you to monitor your brands' online reputation and your competitors', and track your campaign's effectiveness.
• Social Networking Media ROI Calculator
• Blog Metrics

The ANA Marketing Insights Center has a great number of resources for marketers who would like to utilize social media to learn more about their customers and engage them directly and involve them in their brands.  In the ANA Today newsletter, "How Social Media Transforms Marketing," and "Skittles: Follow the Rainbow on Twitter" are the top-read articles. The above articles are available for ANA members only. If you are not an ANA member, browse through our 101 library where we have an abundant amount of social media resources, including "Marketing with Twitter."

If you use other social media tracking tools, please feel free to share them with us. We'd love to hear from you! Leave a comment or email me at Irina@ana.net.

Social Networks

View more presentations from ANAPresents.

Is Online Video Advertising More Effective Than TV Advertising?

By Susan Burke

At a recent ANA Brand Management committee meeting, a presenter from Nielsen IAG shared the following information:

• A piece of creative running on a site such as Hulu.com (or ABC.com, NBC.com, CBS.com, etc.) delivers more effective advertising in terms of brand and message recall, than the same piece of creative running on TV. (Click here to see the snapshot and presentation.)

This nugget of information spurred a great deal of discussion in the meeting. Some attendees agreed with this finding, while others argued against it. To me, it makes sense that an ad running on an online video site has more of an impact than one on TV for a few reasons:

1. Conditioning: If I happen to be watching live TV, I will generally take the garbage out, channel surf, or leave the room during a commercial break. Most of us know how long the average commercial break is, so we are usually able to time our return to the couch perfectly.
2. DVRs: As I said in my first point, “If I happen to be watching live TV”—this activity happens rarely. Commercials are generally skipped, thanks to my DVR. However, you can’t fast forward through an online video ad.
3. Appreciation: When an ad is shown during an online video, I often find myself feeling grateful to the advertiser. Their sponsorship of the program means that I can watch it at my leisure, so I don’t mind viewing a 30 second spot in return.
4. Captive Audience: When commercial breaks occur during an online video, they are much shorter than a television commercial break. Therefore, I’m more likely to watch the ad, as opposed to doing something else during it. I can pause or mute the ad, of course, but I’ll still have to play it at some point if I want to finish the show.
5. Recall: My recall of an ad played during an online episode of a TV show is generally stronger than my recall of an ad played during the televised episode. This is because there are generally fewer total commercials during an online video.

While I think there is still a purpose to television advertising, I also believe that online video advertising is an avenue that many advertisers should explore more thoroughly. Online video isn’t going anywhere, so it’s time to embrace it.

Golden Opportunities on Twitter

By Irina Skaya

Not a day goes by without someone asking me, “Why do you use Twitter? It’s so useless. Why do I care what you are up to every second of the day?” Wake up people! You are missing out on engaging with and learning more about your customers.  As Cynthia Ashworth, Vice President of Customer Engagement @Dunkin’ Donuts said, “We don’t have to justify Twitter. It’s free customer-service.” Indeed it is, Cynthia. It’s a free focus group and a cheap option for collaboration.

As I try to keep up with the cutting edge marketing trends, I enrolled in a two-hour course on Twitter Love where I learned how marketers can utilize the microblogging Web site to promote their products and services, research consumer insights, improve customer service, converse with and engage their customers, and group collaboration.  For instance, @JetBlue is using Twitter to help improve customer services and teamwork across business units.  As a customer service tool, Twitter’s benefit is that everything people say about your product/service is public on Twitter and is easy to find via using their built-in search tool. This makes Twitter an instant focus group with over 10 million participants, many of whom are your customers.  Collecting customer feedback via Twitter is easy and effortless, especially when you compare it to the number of responses you get back through email surveys.  Zappos is using Twitter to make personal connections among employees, and between the company and its customers.  For those marketers who want to improve their corporate culture and customer service, Twitter is a great tool.

So just like there was Facebook and then came LinkedIn, a professional social networking Web site, Yammer is like Twitter for business. Yammer offers groups for discussions on a subject between people in the same workgroup. It can connect employees from different departments, so if you work in a 500+ company, you won’t feel like just a number anymore.  Although some may argue that Twitter and Yammer may be distracting and may affect employees’ productivity, it can, if used moderately improve corporate culture by connecting employees to one another and letting them know what the organization is up to, its achievements and pretty much anything.

So for the Twitter rebels, get on it, add ANAmarketers to your list of the following, and most importantly, start talking and listening to your customers.  And here are some Twitter tools to get you started:

TweetLater.com – helps you in following everyone who follows you; includes auto DMs and a tweet scheduler.

Twitter Karma - keeps a follow-to-follower ratio in order for you unfollow those who are not following me, with a few exceptions.

TwitterCounter - see my followers in graph form. It also predicts how many followers you will have in 30, 90 or 365 days.

TweetDeck – as an Adobe Air app, TweetDeck allows you to see your @replies, direct messages, timeline, and a lis of folks you follow whose Tweets you want to make sure you read. You can also use it to update your Twitter and Facebook accounts simultaneously. I use and love this tool!

PS.  Download our most-read 101 on Marketing with Twitter. 

Recession: Glimmer of Hope?

As a follow-up to my blog, "Is an economic recovery near?" I would like to share with you are new video snippets from the 2009 ANA Building in Tough Times Brand Conference where heavy-weight executives from Dunkin' Donuts, MillerCoors and Wal-Mart shared their insights and best practices in regards to overcoming tough economic times.

Thank you to AdAge for these valuable video highlights. If you have any best practices on coping with the recession, please share in our comments section on this blog, YouTube page, or email me at irina@ana.net. I'd love to hear from you!

The Psychological Boost of Coffee Marketing

Turning Beer Temperature Into Marketing Gold

Partnerships, Not Brand Renovation, Best Growth Strategy

Is an economic recovery near?

By Irina Skaya

Yesterday’s ANA Brand Building in Tough Times & Beyond Conference was filled with optimism, actionable ideas for marketers to cope with the depressed economy, confidence for a speedy recovery, and Donut Love.  How does one recession proof their brand?

Dunkin’ Donuts emphasized the importance of relevance and empathy with their “You Kin’ Do It” campaign.  The goal of this campaign was to build trust and emotional connection with their consumers because 91% buy from companies they trust.  While Dunkin’ Donuts’ challenge was to convince people to spend a discretionary $4 on a cup of coffee for breakfast, Wal-mart partnered with Kellogg to encourage people to save money by eating breakfast or the Kellogg cereal at home.  And unlike Dunkin’ Donuts, Walmart had an evergreen approach that wasn’t fundamentally different from when the economic times are better.  Their proposition, “Save money, live better” is just as relevant today as it’s always been, except now they shifted their focus from functional to an emotional relationship with their consumers.  As a matter of fact, the two themes based on both campaigns emerged at the conference: 1. Know your customers and 2. Build an emotional relationship with them.  This is nothing new, however.  Instead what marketers are doing today is they are going back to marketing 101. In 2006 at the ANA Annual Masters of Marketing Conference, the same theme emerged, and we certainly did not foresee an economic crisis then. 

The other commonality all of the presenters shared at yesterday’s event was involvement in social media.  After all, it’s free and everyone is using it—what’s a better way to continue marketing your business in tough times? Dunkin’ Donuts said it best, “We don’t have to justify Twitter, it is a real-time customer service, customer promotion.”   It seems like everyone is tweeting—thank you for everyone who was tweeting at the conference. Just search #ANA to see all of the tweets from the ANA Brand Conference. 

Finally, I’d like to leave you with a touch of optimism, “I was asked what I thought a recession.  I thought about it and decided not to take part.”—Sam Walton, founder of Wal-mart.

The Clydesdales Remain at Anheuser – Busch InBev

By Barbara Bacci Mirque

Keith Levy of Anheuser – Busch InBev had the crowd laughing as he debunked the myths perpetuating since the A-B purchase by InBev.  He promised that the iconic Clydesdales would not be replaced by lower cost and cheaper to feed mini horses.  And the creative focus we have seen from A-B also remains a key priority as brands must help grow the topline and innovation plays a role in that.  What has changed he said is more of a movement to manage costs and optimize business efficiency – a change to which we all can relate in the current economy.  As they take the best of both companies they are now using zero based budgeting and adding data driven decision making into the mix.  So for example, they will begin to do a bit more rigorous pre ad testing as they add precision and create higher persuasion scores from their creative executions since modern consumers require both rational and emotional benefits.  The world’s most valuable brands innovate at the core he said, and he pointed to Bud Light Lime as a recent innovation.  He also described a core consumer insight that emerged after some ethnographic research and that was the notion of  - in consumers’ words - “drinkability.”  As they question every touch point he also noted their digital spend is double what it was a few years ago since people don’t wake up and say “Today I am going live in the  analog world.”  Oh and Michelob is tweeting.  These changes seem very progressive and those that will build the business and maintain their carefully cultivated brand equity.

The Digital Agency Compensation Paradox

By Barbara Bacci Mirque

One of the paradoxes that marketers are currently grappling with is that in many circumstances the production costs of digital media exceeds that of the media costs. And since production is something for which agencies need to be compensated, digital agency compensation costs are rising. What I have heard some senior marketers say is that their bosses don’t understand this situation since digital media was initially touted as being more efficient than traditional media. Some of this can be attributed to inefficient processes that currently exist in the digital media ecosystem which the IAB and AAAA, with support of the ANA, are working on. To help our members benchmark digital agency compensation, the ANA recently fielded a survey on this topic. Mary Conrad of Jones, Lundin, Beals was nice enough to be our subject matter expert and interpret the survey findings. The initial results reflect this contradiction. 

The good news is that digital budgets are increasing despite economic stress.  But along with that, the number of digital agencies being utilized is also increasing as services proliferate.  The bad news for marketers is that the expanding roster of digital agencies means more complex agency management issues and higher agency compensation fees.  The bottom line is that on a percentage basis digital agencies command a higher percentage of the marketing budget than traditional agencies.  As we obtain more survey respondents, we will be delving into and releasing these findings in the coming months.   A preliminary report will be issued at the ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference beginning Sunday April 19 in

Phoenix

.  

 

If you are a client side marketer and would like to take the survey, contact Lindsey Raczka at LRaczka@ana.net.