Gaming the Social Web

Good article by Eliot Van Buskirk, "Gaming the  System: How Marketers Rig the Social Media Machine" here. "If clout is the new currency, in other words, it already has its share of counterfeiters."

Carrefour - Turned Around?

The Financial Times reviews Carrefour's CEO Lars Olofsson's progress over the past fifteen months in returning the retail giant to its revenue growth.  "Mr. Olofsson says he has diagnosed the problem, which is basically the underperformance of non-food sales at the hypermarkets..."  See article here.  

Hypermarkets are an interesting retail environment, where the shopper and consumer merge, or can swap roles.  Similar to eCommerce environments.

Ad Age Disappoints - iPhone OS 4 Multi-tasks

Ad Age writes in Apple Brings Multitasking, Skype Support to iPhone Update here, "The new software answers many developers' and consumers' requests, especially with features like some multitasking support, a unified e-mail inbox, better VoIP calling, and a social-gaming network. It's cool that you'll be able to listen to Pandora radio and make Skype calls while reading e-mail and surfing the Web."

The statement in the article "These are fine features, but nothing revolutionary" shows that Ad Age has to go a ways to comprehend technology.  Multi-tasking implies that emergency messaging can get through, automated email updates, superior use of bandwidth when available, continuous consumer engagement solutions, continuous monitoring solutions in healthcare, etc. etc.

I'm disappointed in Ad Age!

American Express - Consumer Analytics and Insights

A little bit old news, yet for consumer research and even quants in the the consumer research and insights field, this is exceptional news:

"American Express is unleashing a powerful weapon: a new unit that will harness transaction data for its 90 million cardholders to inform both marketing decisions and larger strategic issues."

This is transactional data on committed to using their credit card consumers and American Express has always been brilliant at understanding their consumer.  I believe the value here will be exceptional.

See the cached article off Google cache here or search for it on AdAge here.

Reckitt-Benckiser Invests in Web Advertising

Colleague Franz Dill writes about the shift in advertising spending at Reckitt-Benckiser here. Web ads will receive $20m of an estimated $475m where 90% usually goes to TV media.

Apple Ads

Apple: Our Ads Don't Lie, But You're a Fool if You Believe Them, see Wired article here. A 70 year old Mr. William Gillis, San Diego resident has filed a complaint alleging that Apple falsely advertised the iPhone 3G by calling it "twice as fast for half the price" compared with the original handset.

Impact of Economics on Online Advertising

The Economist states in "Not Ye Olde Banners" here:

"Mary Meeker, an internet analyst at Morgan Stanley, ... estimates, if the economy stops growing, ad spending is likely to fall by 4%. If the economy shrinks by 2%, overall ad spending may fall by 10%."

The fantastic thing about online advertising is that with the change in available technology come shifts in the marketing methods... hence, one does not have to wait 25 years to become old school that can happen in 25 weeks.

Here is an example of how online advertising can connect the analogue marketing's serialization of consumer engagement into multi-point choice for the consumer, as stated in the article:

"Mr Rothenberg (Interactive Advertising Bureau) gives the example of a rich-media ad for Kraft, a food company, in which a yummy image raises brand awareness, a click reveals a recipe that increases consideration, another click provides coupons and yet another click initiates a game that can be shared with friends. Marketing managers can therefore defend their online budgets as being both above (awareness or consideration) and below (preference or loyalty) the line."

I believe the economics of today will drive what I have hoped for - innovation leading towards affective online advertising delivering results that can be measured i.e. (and as Ted McConnell puts it) Performance-Based Advertising. The pressure will be on all - the brand manager, the creative/agency, the inventory holder/distributor.

See my previous blog "Social Networks & Advertisement" here.

Social Networks & Advertisement

I recently attended the Internet Summit in Chapel Hill, NC - see details here. Social networks and advertisement / marketing in Web 2.0 world were the main topics of the panels.

Having had the excellent opportunity to lead technology development on the world's first and leading word of mouth / viral marketing brands PG-Tremor and PG-Vocalpoint: I found myself grasping (during the panel on "Marketing in a 2.0 World") at anything that spoke of web marketing delivering anything beyond amplification in their discussion. And so, I asked if the panel could give tangible example, just one, of advocacy i.e. purchase intent converted and realized, from their social network(s) focused program or campaign.

I am sorry to report the excellent panel representing Vitrue, Lenovo, Microsoft and Digitalsmiths had to submit that they mostly have examples of increased awareness.

As such, please see superb insights from my friend and colleague Mr. Ted McConnell, P&G's Leader of Interactive Marketing and Innovation here. To social network sites that leverage media for ads, Ted stated:

""I have a reaction to that as a consumer advocate and an advertiser," he said. "What in heaven's name made you think you could monetize the real estate in which somebody is breaking up with their girlfriend?""

On consumer engaged media generation, Ted stated:

""I think when we call it 'consumer-generated media,' we're being predatory," he said. "Who said this is media? Media is something you can buy and sell [...] We hijack their own conversations, their own thoughts and feelings, and try to monetize it.""

I believe Ted represents leading thought and execution on interactive (media) and advertisement leveraging leading technologies - as such his personal preferences may be something to pay heed to:

"I really don't want to buy any more banner ads on Facebook."

Finally, I am happy to hear Ted predict and see the following in the market place:

""'Spray and pray' is a little harder to do when you're under economic pressure," he said. "So performance-based advertising will gain share over CPM.""

Brand "Image" Impacts Consumers - Literally

Marketing laterally, subliminally, subconsciously, through adjacency - just a few of the names to find a way to have the consumer "choose" your product. Results of a recent study regarding TV ads published in the Economist "Watching the watchers" here shows through research and analysis that a brand's image (on screen) can impact choice decisions. It further showed that sound perhaps was not as impactful as the advertisement was being viewed at fast forward speeds on TV.