Posts Tagged ‘advertising’

Funny thing about the turning of the seasons, no matter how hard you fight them or try to ignore them, they always mean change. Always have. Always will. That’s not a bad thing, but sometimes we just aren’t ready. Or we don’t think that we are. Spring in some ways is different from the other seasons, however. Spring always represents renewal and growth. We do spring cleaning. Exercising changes from the Winter drill to the Spring Training. We dig up old gardens and plant them anew. The list goes on. Oddly however, it isn’t uncommon for advertisers and their marketing handlers to somehow overlook the need to do some Spring cleaning and renewal with their ad campaigns.

Depending upon the particular business, product or service, spring might just be the optimal time to review, refine and otherwise optimize everything in your marketing and advertising program. Are ads outdated, inaccurate or just plain not performing? Is your plan working at optimal efficiency? Do you know? Maybe it is time to conduct a thorough inventory and assessment and see if there isn’t some new life to be swept into your efforts instead of sweeping badly performing ads, media mixes, or measurement practices under the couch like Super Bowl-party pizza crumbs. So break out the cleaning gear for your brain and make sure every dollar you spend on marketing and advertising is working optimally. It will be summer before you know it!

We could use a miracle about now. The current administration’s Healthcare Plan may not be it. But at least it is a start. Anything- any movement, change, attention paid to solving problems, whether they be long term or short, is a good thing. The same is true when it comes to business and especially the marketing of business in its various forms.

There already was a lot of unnecessary churn in advertising and marketing long before the current recession. Too many media companies were arrogantly in denial about the true nature of the beast. Too many posers, too, tried to position themselves as “gurus” with some new magic to change everything. Hell, we even called it “New Media.” That distinction seems hilarious now. I mean, does New Media work with “Old Business?” Business is business. And business means addressing the bottom line. There is nothng mysterious about that. So the hope is that we will all quit pretending and get down to business and align our marketing, advertising and media offerings with good business practices. Become “true” partners with our advertisers and companies that have goods and services to sell. No fluff. No bull. Now “that” would be a miracle.

I’m looking for a sign ….

It has been said that advertising is the second oldest profession. If that is so, then creative services must be almost older than dirt. Which begs the question in today’s turned on, linked-in, digital age (we aren’t talking fingers and toes here), does creative still have the value that it did in days past? I mean, are impressions and clicks more important than the message? Does pounding the message home in plain old black and white Times New Roman or Arial do the same heavy lifting as a thoughtful, creative, crafty and well-executed ad, video, sound bite, etc.? Or is beauty merely in the eye of the beholder? With more and more people gaining access to more and more technology and more and more tools that were once the domain of the creative genii, that distinction becomes fuzzier and fuzzier. Suddenly it seems that almost everyone is a “designer,” “photographer,” “film-maker,” or “internet guru.” Does that trump the odd “SEO Master” or “Conversion Specialist?” Hell no. They all have their roles and they all have their importance. And as media and marketing continue to that finely honed point of conversion to gain the eyes, ears and dollars, Euros, yen and pesos of consumers (and we are ALL consumers of some sort or another), creative approaches to messaging will still be vital, needed and valued. Smart marketers know this. Smart consumers respond to it. No matter what the language and no matter what the conventional “wisdom” of the frijole counters. It still helps to know beans about creative messaging.

For those of us working with advertisers and agencies that work with adult beverages, there is a strong familiarity with the self-imposed guidelines of the manufacturers to reach the 21+ age group. This requirement aimed at protecting younger viewers makes sense to almost everyone who deals with the U.S. market.

However, a recent article from Advertising Age notes recent parliamentary action in some European countries that are working to ban the so-called “body worship” category. In Spain beauty and hygiene is the third largest spender in television advertising, accounting for over $700 million in airtime in 2008. As you can imagine, all advertisers in this category are waiting anxiously the results of challenges that will come with these bans.

Have a look at the entire article at Advertising Age.

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS to the city of New Orleans and their Saints.  The annual ritual seen by nearly 1 billion people worldwide has again lived up to its billing. In many years the commercials can take center stage versus the actual game; however, this year the game was definitely worthwhile.

This is not a sports site like some others named for popular cable channels, we won’t offer much of a critique on the game between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints. Let’s talk advertising.

Judging by the reaction of the rest of the group I was with in attendance at the Super Bowl party in Lake Tahoe, the winner is Doritos with the anti-bark collar :

There were the traditional Go Daddy Danica Patrick ads, competing commercials from major car companies- with the notable exception of General Motors- and the freaky baby ads of E*Trade. Personally I give a very close 2nd place to the first of the E*Trade ads with the “milkaholic” Lindsey:

Luckily at Ad Age’s Super Bowl ad page and YouTube you can relive the ads, although they will probably be shown more than once in the upcoming months. Only time will tell if the actual value of the $30 million is realized, but it is another diversion for those who may not be as interested in the game.

For myself and most of the people I know, 2010 offers a plethora of top level sporting options.  Whether they are the annual events such as the Super Bowl, March Madness, Stanley Cup Playoffs and World Series or the upcoming Winter Olympics and World Cup,  this year is going to require numerous hours in front of the television with some frosty malted beverages.

While this is exciting for sports fans in a year of economically squeezed ad budgets, event organizers and their sales teams are scrambling to maximize their ad revenue.  Some larger sponsors such as McDonald’s, Visa, and Coca-Cola are high level participants in both the Olympics and the World Cup. However, it will take more than that to make the games a success for NBC.

The world economy, location, and weather are just among some of the challenges facing the event organizers this year.  For marketers, stretching budgets for traditional large markets such as the United States, or emerging powerhouses such as Brazil or China, is quite a bit easier than for markets not considered to be as powerful such as Canada and South Africa.  Additionally, the fact that both events are occurring in the same year means that many sponsors who would like to participate in both will be forced to choose.

More about the advertisers participating can be found in this article from Advertising Age.  Otherwise for all of us spectators it is going to be a very exciting year.  Go USA!

Remember the baby in the Super Bowl E*Trade commercials?

Well, there are plenty of other first time advertisers looking to make a splash with Super Bowl XLIV. These firms are looking to build on the success of past advertisers such as E*Trade, Go Daddy and Hulu.

An article in this week’s Wall Street Journal discusses some of those already confirmed such as Qualcomm’s Flo TV, KGB and HomeAway, replacing some of the larger companies such as FedEx and General Motors who are not currently planning to participate.

Other first time advertisers planning on joining are Time Warner’s TruTV, Electronic Arts, Boost Mobile and even a conservative Christian group, Focus on the Family, has also purchased airtime. How they will compete with the perennial big budget spots of Anheuser Busch InBev remains to be seen, but as always there is much to look forward to, both on the gridiron and in between advertisers.

Regardless of their size,  all agencies are looking at ways to improve their service offerings  and even expand their service offerings.  This is most evident in areas such as digital, mobile, as well as multicultural.  For larger companies, there is a tendency to think that it will be easy for them to transition, as they have resources that may not be available to smaller agencies; however, in many cases they have significant challenges in reorganizing a larger company structure.  For smaller agencies, the challenge of resources is of constant concern, and hiring and paying the experts necessary can be financially burdensome.

In the article from Advertising Age “A Small Agency’s Guide to Going Digital”, Mr. Gould does an exellent job of sharing his experience with an agency that transformed itself over a period of 10 years to a 100% digital agency.  There are many others who, either based on a client interest or of their own acceptance, decided that they needed to keep up with the emerging media world.

At Alcance Media Group, we are in contact with agencies of all sizes who face similar challenges.  In some cases they are agencies who are looking to improve their knowledge of digital solutions, and in others they are looking to add Hispanic marketing initiatives to their roster of services.  And of course there are many who have some mix of all of the above.

As a digital marketing company focusing on reaching the Hispanic market,  Alcance Media Group is continually working on improving not only our expertise, but also looking for ways to share that expertise with our agency and advertiser partners.   One key way that agencies have used us to help for projects is areas such as reaching the Hispanic market, when more of a one-off client request is the use of contractors and consultants.  With the right combination of in-house expertise and that of a consultant, agencies have been able to quickly ramp up their offerings.  In working with Hispanic agencies, we started to realize that many had a need to incorporate digital services, and we created the Agency Solutions.  In this solution, we have been working behind the scenes to give agencies customized solutions to expand their expertise in the multicultural marketing or digital advertising space.

If you have the budget and the business to support a full scale transition to digital, it is absolutely the best option.  However, in the real world the ability to add experts as needed, quickly, and without the long-term commitment of equipment, training, etc., is very useful for smaller agencies.  This not only gives immediate access to knowledge and trained staff, but when the time comes for an agency to build up its internal staff, the consultants are available to assist and pass on their knowledge.

There are so many websites that have platforms to rate products and services, yet according to the Advertising Research Foundation’s (ARF) findings mentioned in a recent Advertising Age Article, the ARF is publishing a new book, “Foundations of Listening”,  that discusses various case studies and the impact of consumers sharing their experiences.

The traditional system of surveys and paid customer research is alive and well.  While this allows the marketer to get answers to specific questions and control the environment, there is much to be gained from open discourse and listening to what your customers are saying outside of standard scenarios.  The article mentions that marketers are more inclined to see the views spread through social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and other online review boards as more of a curse than a blessing.  Listening to feedback can be scary for both individuals and companies, as they are opening themselves up to negative comments.  However, within negative comments they have the opportunity to improve, and the more open they are, there is an opportunity to continue to improve.

Much of the problem with receiving feedback from multiple sources in a manner that is unorganized is that it may be more difficult to find the useful information.  Companies and research companies are looking at ways to track the information.  From a digital billboard streaming live Twitter feeds, to tracking search, and monitoring brand mentions on various sources, the marketing community is working on its “listening” skills.

Whether you are paying for a monitored research panel or finding a way to organize and learn from the consumer input, there will most likely be a cost; however, for marketers, the benefit of gaining insight from consumers through new media outlets offers an opportunity to learn more from the people who use their products.

With varying levels of pain felt by most individuals and companies in 2009,the Hispanic focused ad agency Dieste declared an early end to the year with the new “Leave09 Behind” campaign.

An interesting idea that allows users to post video’s, save photos, buy T-shirts, and even come to their Leave 09 Behind event scheduled for November 30th at 6 pm in Dallas, TX.  One of the more interesting ideas is the petition to the U.S. government to put an early end to the year.  So far the petitionn has about 2,000 signatures, 1,000 Facebook friends and some of the videos already have tens of thousands of views.

For most of those working in the advertising world, especially that of agencies focused on multicultural and Hispanic initiatives, I’m sure that many are in agreement with the petition.  There is even an article in the industry news source Advertising Age