ANA Marketing Maestros

Who Owns the Information on Your Facebook Page?

By Cara Brooke Schultz

Social media can be defined as "activities, practices, and behaviors among communities of people who gather online to share information, knowledge, and opinions using conversational media," according to The Social Media Bible. Just a few months ago you might have read about Facebook’s privacy transition. With the transition, Facebook users’ names, profile photos, gender, and hometown suddenly became publicly available information, when previously only your name and network were publicly available.

 

Now Canada has slapped Facebook with a class-action suit saying the transition violated Canadian privacy and consumer protection laws. The class-action suit claims that Facebook made money from its customers’ personal data by letting third parties use it for targeted online advertising campaigns.

How do you feel about these new privacy transitions? Do you feel like you own the information on your Facebook page, or does Facebook own that information?

Chime in with your thoughts!

3GTV—The New Advertising Medium?

By Cara Brooke Schultz

How many commercials leave a lasting impression, so much so, that they play out in your head while you are shopping at your local grocery store? Soon those commercials maybe viewable while you are doing your shopping. According to a recent article by The New York Times a company called, “Automated Media Services has been working on a system that would deliver television in retail environments in a way that would allow media agencies to plan and buy commercial time in stores just as they do on the networks.” The product is deemed 3GTV and will give advertisers an environment similar to what they had in the days of only three television networks—an effective way to reach audiences without distractions.

© The New York Times

Stephen Grubbs, a media guru who held positions at agencies owned by the Omnicom Group said, “The presence of the 3GTV screens near or in front of the products advertised in the commercials represents an advantage, compared with existing systems in stores that use TV screen at or above check-out counters, after purchase decisions have already been made.” As an advertiser, what type of commercials would your company broadcast on 3GTV? Would they be 10-second catchy commercials or a 30 second spot? 

Advice from the “Celebrity CMO”

By Adrienne Tallacksen

I recently had the opportunity to see Jeffrey Hayzlett, now former CMO of Eastman Kodak, speak at an industry event for a second time. His presentation was one of the most popular at ANA’s 2009 Masters of Marketing Conference last year, and he spoke again at a recent forum of the Mobile Marketing Association. Hayzlett is an engaging and dynamic speaker who is known as the “Celebrity CMO” and who challenges marketers to be leaders and grow the bottom line. If they’re not doing those things, why are they even around, he asks. Hayzlett introduced a couple of new themes in his most recent speech.
 
The 118 Speech: This is the new elevator pitch. Marketers have to have a value proposition, and they have to be able to sell it. The average adult attention span is just eight seconds; the average elevator ride in New York City is 110 seconds. With the 118 speech, you’ve got eight seconds to hook your listeners and 110 seconds to sell your value proposition. 

Be a Change Agent: When asked how people who haven’t yet reached the rank of CMO can be change agents in their organizations, Hayzlett told the story of the weekend he spent cleaning carpets at his company and then tearing up the carpets after finding beautiful marble floors underneath all because he was told that it was too expensive to get the carpets cleaned. Don’t just stand around saying “woe is me, I’m not powerful enough to change anything.” If clean carpets are what’s needed to grow the bottom line, get a six-pack and some friends and spend the weekend cleaning the carpets. Hayzlett advises marketers to be the change they want to see, and if they get fired for doing the right thing, all the better.

Videos: The Trend of the Moment or Here to Stay?

By Cara Brooke Schultz

Viral videos seem to be the “trend” of the moment in the social media world, but will it last? Most websites from CNN.com to HomeDepot.com are using videos for numerous reasons like broadcasting information, tutorials, or pure entertainment. And then you have YouTube—a video community where anyone can become an Internet star by simply uploading a homegrown video.

Recently, I stumbled upon craigslist TV on YouTube.  At first I wasn’t sure if these videos were real, they look professionally produced, and the personalities of the people in the videos seems so outlandish I thought they had to be actors.

 

According to the craigslist channel on YouTube, “craigslist tv is a new documentary series that follows real craigslist users, in real time, as they use craigslist to make things happen. The project remains active today. Interested craigslist users click an opt-in button if they think their posting deserves to be seen. The episodes in this series are the results of the project to date.”

Do you find yourself watching more videos online? If so, what do you watch online—news, entertainment, educational tutorials? 

The iPad Gets Wired

By Susan Burke

Wired magazine is now available on the iPad via a rich app, which enables users to read all content available in the print edition of the magazine and enjoy additional multi-media enhancements for $4.99 per issue. According to an article in the May 26, 2010 edition of The New York Times, examples of these multi-media enhancements include:

A Lamborghini Gallardos made of Legos…, which has six images in the print magazine, is shown being constructed in the app through a slide show of 180 images that a user can scroll through like a flip-book. The two images of Mars that ran in the print version become a rotating 3-D version on the app.

 However, content published on Wired.com will remain different and separate from the content in the printed magazine or on the iPad. In terms of the advertisers featured in the magazine, all advertisers who participated in the print version were part of the iPad version as well, which launched with the June issue of Wired (pictured above).
Condé Nast, which publishes Wired, worked with the makers of Adobe’s InDesign program for a year to develop this app. The resulting new Adobe feature will be made available to other publishers for purchase.   According to The New York Times, this addition to InDesign “allows the magazine’s editorial team to easily move the print design into the iPad design and vice versa. “

Wired’s work with the iPad is an important step for the print industry and an example as to how other magazines can start to blend more digital content into their existing offerings. Click here to read a piece from the ANA’s Marketing Insights Center on the future of magazines.

Facebook (And Other Websites) Banned from Pakistan

By Cara Brooke Schultz

Social media is popular in Pakistan with about 25 million people regular Internet users, however those 25 million people will need to live without Facebook and other social networking sites for an indefinite amount of time.

According to an article on CNN.com, “Pakistan is blocking access to Facebook in response to an online group calling on people to draw the Prophet Mohammed.”  The telecommunication authority in Pakistan said the site has been blocked for an indefinite amount of time.  The group could be considered offensive to devout Muslims—they consider it disrespectful to depict Mohammed.

Originally the creator of the Facebook group established the group as a means of protest. She was quoted in the CNN.com article as saying, “This is something I have felt strongly about for a long time: bullying by certain Muslim groups will not be tolerated in a free country.”

Facebook responded by saying that although the group may be considered objectionable to some people it does not violate Facebook policies.  Currently Facebook is looking into the situation.

From a marketing standpoint, how do you think Facebook should deal with the current situation and any future situations that may arise?  Share your thoughts!

The FTC Gives Tweens an “Ad-ucation”

By Cara Brooke Schultz

Can a video game be used as an educational tool? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would like to think so. They recently developed a new campaign—an educational video game—to educate kids about marketing and advertising. The FTC launched this campaign for three main reasons: to raise awareness of advertising messages among children ages 8 to 12; teach critical thinking skills that will allow tweens to analyze and interpret advertisements; and demonstrate the benefits of being an informed consumer.  

 

The FTC is hoping that not only will this video game help “ad-ucate” young consumers, but that it will help to enhance critical thinking skills.  The campaign’s website gives teachers educational tools to help raise advertising awareness among students. For example, teachers can download a lesson that invites students to explore what advertising is, what ads do, and who’s responsible for the messages being projected in the ads.  

The video game isn’t the most graphically enhanced, and with all the video-entertainment out there for tweens, I’m not sure how this will effectively hold their attention (although I’m sure they will find this video game more enjoyable then any old lesson plan).  However, I think it’s a great concept, tweens should understand advertising and anything that helps to generate critical thinking skills is a plus! Test out your ad-skills at admongo.

Your Tweets Have a New Home...Welcome to The Library of Congress

By Cara Brooke Schultz

Did you think the tweet you wrote publicly pronouncing your love for a new product would stay in “twitterspace” forever? The idea that tweets would slowly dissolve into Internet space is no longer! Twitter and the Library of Congress announced that every public tweet posted since the birth of Twitter in 2006 will be digitally archived.

According to the Library of Congress’ Web site, “The Twitter digital archive has extraordinary potential for research into our contemporary way of life. This information provides detailed evidence about how technology based social networks form and evolve over time. The collection also documents a remarkable range of social trends,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington.

 

Only public tweets will be archived, and even Google is getting in on the action. Google is planning on creating an interactive archive. People can search tweets at any point in time and ‘replay’ what people were tweeting about at that very moment! Think historical moments like Barack Obama’s inauguration or the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

Would you use the Twitter archive? If so, what chatter would you like to look-up?

 

New Plans for Local Ratings Unfair to Advertisers

By Bill Duggan

Nielsen, last week, formally announced its plans to eliminate the reporting of live-only local TV ratings to advertisers and its local station clients. Now, advertisers and local stations will only have overnight access to data for three different data streams: live program plus same day time-shifting of programming, live plus three day time-shifting, and live plus seven day time-shifting. Going forward, live-only data will only be available in custom reports, on a delayed basis.

Advertisers and agencies are disappointed. Nielsen has made it clear since this issue arose in 2009 that it could make three data streams available. Advertisers and agencies have been consistently adamant regarding the need for the live-only stream and have been willing to concede to the local stations the choice for the other two streams.  But now all available streams for local TV ratings will be “plus” and therefore include time-shifting.

On the national level, the evolution from program ratings to average commercial ratings has been a positive step and C3 takes into consideration three day time-shifting. But it is important to point out that on the local level program ratings continue to be used. Therefore, all the “plus” streams do not take into consideration commercial skipping in DVR playback. As a result, local commercial viewing would clearly be overstated—some agencies estimate that this change will result in an instant 7 percent viewership boost to local TV stations. Overstated rating could then lead to overstated ad rates.

 

This situation is unfair and unfortunate. Again, there are three local ratings streams available. One of those streams should be live-only as the majority of agencies and advertisers have consistently told Nielsen as well as the local stations. Remember, it’s those advertising dollars that ultimately fund the local stations and well as Nielsen’s ratings services. Why has the opinion of advertisers and agencies been disregarded?

Battles on the TV Screen

By Cara Brooke Schultz

Companies battling it out on the small screen is not new. In fact, Burger King had a slew of commercials in the 1980s taking jabs at McDonald’s.

And who can forget Pepsi’s commercials arguing how it tastes better than Coca-Cola.

Recently you’ve probably watched the public scuffle between AT&T and Verizon Wireless. If not, here are two commercials for your viewing enjoyment: 

With all of these public feuds taking place throughout advertising history, how does it affect you as a consumer? I personally rather hear why the company is better for me as a consumer; I could do without these public punches thrown at each other over the television screen. What do you think—do these commercials waiver your thoughts when making a purchase?