ANA Marketing Maestros

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.

Generate Exponential Revenue by Investing in the Booming Halal Market

By Irina Skaya

Today, Islam is the fastest growing religion on earth with the Muslim population estimated to reach two billion by 2010. The global Halal food market is estimated to be worth $632 billion a year.. A new study by JWT points out that the six million or so Muslims in America are, on average, richer and better educated than the general population. Two-thirds of Muslim households make more than $50,000 a year and a quarter earn over $100,000; the national average is $42,000. Two-thirds of American Muslims have a college degree, compared with less than half of the general population. Muslim families also tend to have more children. With these stats, businesses should indeed be tapping at this growing market segment.

An article in this week’s Time Magazine shows that even non-food companies like Nokia and LG are catering towards Muslim customers. For instance, Nokia provides free downloadable recitations from the Koran and maps showing major mosque locations in the Middle East. LG has an application that helps users find the direction of Mecca.  What’s really interesting is that hotels, banks, and other organizations that operate according to Shari’a law are doing well despite the global downturn. 

And the fast-food restaurants such as McDonald’s in Singapore have seen an influx of millions of patrons annually after obtaining Halal certifications. Since being certified, “Halal, KFC, Burger King and Taco Bell have all seen an increase of 20 percent in customers” (Hairalah, cited in Hazair, 2007a: 13). Nestle has become the biggest multi-national food manufacturer for Muslims, producing halal food in 75 of its 481 factories and earning over $3 billion in annual sales.

To read up on marketing to Muslims, visit:

http://bit.ly/8Mu4k

http://bit.ly/mcZzb

http://bit.ly/2lP1UC

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

Holding Up in a Tough Economy

By Irina Skaya

When the economy tightens, many companies resort to the mislabeled sales strategy of offering discounts. Discounting on price is not a sales strategy.  It's an impulsive move made by desperate salespeople.  In a tough economy, customers think and expect everything is going to be discounted.  Because of this, salespeople feel it’s necessary to oblige the customer to close the deal.  Unfortunately, the discount ends up altering the attitude of the customer who now believes the real value of the product or service they bought is the reduced price and not the full one.  Maintaining your pricing integrity in a down economy is truly a winning strategy because, in the end, profit margins are higher, the ability to service a customer is better, and the confidence of the salesperson is greater.

Although Starbucks (SBUX) has recently reported a 77% profit drop, the company is launching a multi-million marketing and advertising campaign "focused on the quality and values Starbucks offers ”  in order to combat perceptions that its products are over-priced.  The goal of the campaign is to remind customers why they’ve loved Starbucks coffee from the beginning.  In today’s marketplace where most are cutting ad spending and are offering discount with increase retail market share, Starbucks is taking a different approach.  I have to applaud Starbucks for sticking to its brand message and showing confidence despite closing doors to more than 300 Starbucks restaurants. Customers will shop where they feel confident in that business, one that is communicating and is sending the message out that it is here to stay, aka Starbucks.

At a recent ANA workshop, Don Sexton, Professor at Columbia University said companies who maintain or increase their marketing budgets during a recession experience higher sales growth than those who reduce or cut their budgets.  “Top Ten Ways to Bounce Back From Tough Economic Times,” written by Bob Liodice, CEO/President of the ANA also urges marketers to invest  in a brand more rather than less.

Innovation in Today's New Media World

by Barbara Bacci Mirque

In the Web 2.0 world we inhabit today, all of the paradigms are shifting.  Advertisers are becoming content providers.  Agency models are in flux. Media is the new creative.  There are hundreds of television channels, and microsites, webinars, social networking and podcasts are supplementing the traditional media channels I grew up with in my marketing career. 

In our Marketing Media Ecosystem 2010 study, conducted with the AAAA, IAB and Booz & Co.
across all of our respective  memberships, our research results demonstrated the need for all of the various constituencies to become more agile and flexible as they transform their business models.  This is because the landscape is at an inflection point - online is no longer experimental; there is massive audience fragmentation providing more choice for consumers but also for advertisers; search and ad networks are key growth drivers; media segments are blending. 

Thus, it is an exciting time to be a marketer but also a complex one.  Marketing accountability used to be the number one issue that kept up our senior marketers at night but that has been supplanted by the challenges posed in integrating new media with traditional media.  Recently I had a blast talking about this very topic with Gordon Hughes, CEO, American Business Media.  We were interviewed by Matthew Schwartz of Scribe Media in Scribe's very impressive studio. Not only are magazine publishers adapting to the digital age but they are now offering advertisers a variety of new tools and formats that were unheard of 10 years ago.  Through Gordon’s stewardship the ABM membership is living the results that we published from  MME 2010 – namely that media sellers must become consultants and demonstrate to marketers how to effectively navigate the choppy waters. 

To learn more about this topic, tune in to the videocast at: 
http://www.scribemedia.org/2008/07/29/from-print-to-digital-business-advertisers/

I hope you have as much fun watching as Gordon and I did participating!

"Green Living" - Hype or Here to Stay?

By: Irina Skaya

I haven’t written a blog in a little over a month now-hopefully, the American idiom, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” will apply here.

Let’s talk “green”--from battery-electric vehicles to solar wing for ferries or yachts, consumers want to use their buying power to help heal the earth.  In the last couple of years, “green” messaging has inundated the marketplace—from subway ads promoting environmental change to “Green is gorgeous” totes—green marketing is everywhere!  The question now becomes, “How much “green” is too “green”?” Green living is starting to look more like a fashion statement than a genuine, beneficial effort to support environmental issues. Despite the current good intentions of the business community and consumers to promote “green”, serious eco-results will depend on making products and processes more sustainable without consumers even noticing it, and, if necessary, not leaving much room for consumers and companies to opt for less sustainable alternatives.

How can marketers ensure their companies stay authentic in the public realm?  Below are several ways to avoid "greenwashing" and establish credibility: 

• Don't go "Green" for "Green's" sake-ensure the product addresses the customers' need first.
• Partner with regulators, elected officials, environmental agencies, and nonprofits. Support from these organizations will enhance your company's “green” efforts.
• Work together with these partners on marketing/communications efforts, learning from their wealth of experience and established networks.
• Place a heavier emphasis on earned media and cause-related approaches, which carry more validity than advertising and other paid media approaches.

So, while it’s great to create products that scream “eco-friendly” because customers want  to express their concern publicly, it’s important to remember to focus on customers’ needs first. Thus, it’s not enough to position a hybrid car as simply cool, it also must convince its owner that the vehicle will save him/her gas money. The green market is a great opportunity to engage with your target consumers because consumers today are not only interested in the eco-friendly products but are in it for the social cause. Join the hype.

Technorati tags: green marketing greenwashing eco-friendly green living environment

Meatball "Mon"dae - Embracing New Media

By: Irina Skaya

Last Thursday, I attended Seth Godin’s presentation at NYU based on his latest book called, “Meatball Sundae Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?”  I always knew that the owner of the world’s most popular marketing blog site and the best-seller author of nine marketing books is smart, but hearing from him in person was invaluable, inspirational and enlightening.

What’s a meatball sundae?

“[The combination of] meatballs and sundae are meant to be disgusting. If you use new marketing, the topping [the fudge, the cherry] just as a spin, you will fail,” Seth said as he slammed out one sound bite after another.

The Meatballs represent the 100 year-old marketing model which means interrupting the market and selling average products made for average people. The fudge and the cherries of the sundae are the toppings, which represent new marketing: blogs, YouTube, Google, Facebook, Wikis, widgets, etc. Meatballs and sundae are two things that don't mix, like just like new marketing and old marketing.

Seth raised some thought-provoking questions:

In the 1980’s, TV Guide sold for more money than ABC, CBS and NBC were worth all together. Today, how come when I go online to look for video - I go to YouTube and not TV Guide?

In the 1990’s America Online became popular because of e-mails and chatrooms, how come when I go online to find friends I don’t go on aolbook?

He then cited Josiah Wedgwood, an English potter who built an efficient factory organization during the Industrial Revolution, to emphasize if you change the media, and the organizations will change too.

Lessons learned:
• To drive sales revenue, marketers must restructure the marketing organization from top to bottom. 
• Embrace the medium, [referring to SEOs] NOT fight the medium.
• If you can own a variety of choices - you win. For example, iTunes get their reveunue from titles that cannot be purchased at any record store.
• Marketers need to establish a direct communication between themselves and the consumers-the more the consumer interacts, the better the company does.
• Authentic stories matter! Stories that work spread, stories that spread are true; stories that are true are authentic.
• If a marketer is trying to solve a problem people do not have, they are INVISIBLE. You cannot spam yourself to success!
• In the Internet Age, it doesn’t matter how many viewers will see your ads, but who the viewers are.

Got Meatballs?

Technorati tags: Seth Godin new media meatball Sundae

Outdoor Advertising is “Hip” Again!

By: Irina Skaya

Today, on average, we are exposed to approximately 5,000 ad messages per day.  With numerous advertisements and increasing consumer control, advertisers continue to produce innovative ways to promote messages. 

Usually, when most of us think of outdoor advertising, which has been around for 150 years, we think of billboards on a highway, parasail billboards or bus wraps. Today, the emerging technologies and hunger for innovative and more effective approaches have made outdoor advertising ground-breaking and innovative. Of course, with that, the cost of outdoor advertising has skyrocketed.  In fact, outdoor advertising spending is nearly as high as Web spending.

Exactly, how much are advertisers spending on outdoor advertising to ensure that consumers are not just speed-reading the ads?

I am always fascinated by innovative billboards, including the scrolling ads at a bus stand, digital subway placards and the iconic video billboards in Times Square. Recently, I stumbled upon two unique ads that I’ve never seen before.
 

Billboards snow in Canada:

WWF Ocean Levels Rising Billboard:

What's best about the OOH industry's digital makeover?
- Helps advertisers reach out to consumers in familiar environments such as health clubs, bars, restrooms where marketers can connect to consumers in a place where they are not preoccupied with other digital technologies
- Allows advertisers to present content that is almost real-time
- It's in-your-face advertising where consumers cannot escape it by pressing a switch off button or flip  the channel
- It's can be tracked successfully 

Technorati tags: YouTube outdoor advertising billboards

Facebook: Advertisers Are Your Friends

By: Irina Skaya

Earlier this month, Facebook  launched its new ad system that allows advertisers to track users’ activities on the Website to deliver product referrals and target advertising.

With a recurring theme of behavioral targeting at last month’s ANA Annual Conference and industry headlines that consumers must be part of the brand, Facebook is up to something.   

Embracing a most powerful form of advertising, word-of-mouth-marketing, the idea is that consumers are more likely to trust a recommendation from their friends rather than from a 30-second TV spot. The only question I beg to ask is, “Why would anyone publicly disclose their shopping habits, unless they were getting paid for it?” Facebook might have to throw serious discounts or perks to win participation. 

Facebook’s new ad system has also raised some privacy concerns. Although Facebook does not ask users for permission in way that lets them know that they might appear in an ad, it will not share any personal information with the advertisers. And it is a personal choice for users to sign on as fans of a company.

The new ad system presents a major opportunity to tap the high disposable income student demographic currently using Facebook. You can create relevant ads according to users’ interests, relationship status, education status, etc. For instance, if you are a recruiter looking to fill a position and want to hire people from specific companies, you can target people based on what company they are employed by. If you are an advertiser promoting wedding consultancy business, you might want to target those who have, "Engaged” under their relationship status. 

When it comes to online, the power clearly lies in the hands of the consumer – from growth in user-generated content to Facebook’s new ad system, we are witnessing a transformation in the nature of advertising.

Advertising is Flying High

By Kaitlin Villanova

Tray table advertising, in theory this is a genius idea - a branded image staring your customer in the face for an infinite amount of time. Folks at companies like InterAirMedia are finding all sorts of opportunities to impose a brand on airline customers.

Let me tell you about my experience a few weeks ago...

I boarded the 6am flight from JFK to LAX getting to my seat early enough to grab a blanket and pillow. Once I was settled in, (ipod on, phone off, blanket on) I brought down my tray table to begin flipping through a magazine when I was bedazzled by a shiny unobtrusive advertisement for the dining service at a hotel (which will remain nameless).

The image in front of me was of a delightful plate of breakfast food with utensils on the left and a steaming coffee in its designated table-setting spot. This image really communicated the quality of cuisine that is offered at this high-end hotel chain. As an advertiser, I took a moment to relish over this clever ad-space... then dosed off to sleep.

An hour later I woke up to a grumbling stomach realizing that thanks to my bright-and-early-flight I had nothing to eat or drink since the night before. It was approaching 9:30 AM, 3 hours to go and nothing to eat but a miniature bag of pretzels (at 9AM? No, thank you). This is when I lifted my magazine and was face-to-face with a delicious plate of scrambled eggs, what looks to be turkey bacon, toasted to perfection wheat toast and an attractive side of exotic fruits. At this point, I am salivating over this appetizing non-meal on the tray table in front of me, cursing at the advertising industry in my head for getting the best of me.

In the industry this aviation advertising space is available on seat backs, aircraft wraps, tray tables, jet bridge wraps, and cocktail napkins. For the hospitality and cpg industry this great space for advertisements allowing you to capture the attention of your consumer for a long period of time.

Just make sure you feed them first :)

Technorati tags: airline advertising marketing