Posts Tagged ‘Marketing’

The Mexico Tourism Board has initiated an ad campaign in the United States and Canada to inspire visitors from those countries to explore the great diversity within Mexico, the number one foreign destination for North American tourists.

The campaign’s slogan is “Mexico, The Place You Thought You Knew”, and seeks to awaken curiosity in travelers, showing not only the typical beach destinations, but also the natural beauty, cultural heritage and “chic” destinations.

The campaign is being run in print media and television (maybe they should take anote from companies like Volaris that use the internet as their main advertising medium). Investment in the campaign from the Tourism Board is higher than 30% of the ad budget in 2008.  Study showed that the best audience for the campaign is people from 35 to 65 years old, with annual income above $75,000.

People may be growing somewhat accustomed to being tracked online and shown ads for products similar to others they have shown interest in. At first it may seem like a “coincidence” and then you catch on. Wow! These computer guys are pretty crafty. Hmmm…

More and more, however, the ads tailored to the specific viewer are for specific products that they have looked at online. How can that happen? The New York Times recently described the phenomenon. Where are they getting that information on me? It is that Big Brother thing, isn’t it? Not really. But it is close. And it is only the beginning- therein lies the debate. Where are the lines to be drawn between smart, highly efficient marketing and intrusive abuse of personal information? The answer to that question, while not necessarily new, is still in its infancy, even while the techniques and the technologies that allow for personalized retargeting to be used in marketing mature and evolve exponentially.

In the online advertising business, personalized marketing is being hailed as a breakthrough, because it tries to show consumers the right ad at the right time: more appropriate for the consumer and more efficient for the advertiser. But there are reservations too. Many fear that it increases the concern that there may be unnecessary surveillance going on, and perhaps represents an infringement of privacy.  There are various proposals to regulate it. But the debate will continue to rage.

Retargeting is not new. Programs for retargeting use small text files or “cookies” that are exchanged when a Web browser visits a site. This process is used by virtually all commercial web sites’ loyalty programs and in aiding in the customization of content. What IS new is its increasing use and the dramatic and quick application of retargeting by many mainstream sites like Zappos, Amazon and others. The question that will be delicate to answer for those in marketing and online advertising may be when and when not to use it. And, of course, how the shoe fits the occasion.

Giovanni Peri, a researcher at the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, recently published a study showing that immigrants, rather than taking jobs from American workers, “expand the U.S. economy’s productive capacity, stimulate investment, and promote specialization that in the long run boosts productivity”.  The San Francisco Business Times first reported on the release of this study on Monday, August 30th.

This study is significant for several reasons.  First of all, opponents of any sort of immigration reform would be hard-pressed to criticize a source as fair-minded and non-biased as the Federal Reserve, which is hardly known for left-wing bias (or any bias, for that matter).  The study was based on a comparison of data from states with a high percentage of immigrant workers and states with a low percentage of immigrant workers.  Looking at the immigration debate from a purely economic standpoint and leaving behind politics, we can see that, whether they are highly skilled workers from Western Europe and East Asia or laborers from Central American and the Caribbean, immigrants fill gaps in the economy that American workers cannot fill.  The issue of bringing more highly skilled engineers and computer scientists to Silicon Valley from abroad has long been a hot topic.  And farm owners from Watsonville to the Yakima Valley to Yuma know that their fields would lie fallow if not for the cheap and ready labor of immigrant workers (whether legal or illegal).  In this still-recovering economy, let’s not use as a punching bag the workers who are increasing our productive capacity.

Beginning in September, the first digital advertising systems will be installed in the different newsstands around Times Square. Thanks to LCD technology, these newsstands will acquire a new and innovative aspect that turn them into new multimedia advertising stands.  Of course, the buildings surrounding Times Square won’t lose their traditional and huge ads for Broadway shows and big-name brands.

There will be an official, one-time payment of 96,000 for a 30 second ad that will rotate every 8 minutes.  As of this writing, three multinational corporations (all American), have contracted ads for these new and improved newsstands.

Times Square is the only part of the Big Apple that the city is allowing to display this type of multimedia ad. In its first phase, Cemusa will install 8 digital newsstands, possibly increasing to 11, and all in Times Square.

It used to make sense. Back in the “old days”, it was somewhat accepted that not much new business was to be gotten, much less conducted, during the core summer months. Those weeks between about mid-June and mid-August wherein, presumably, everyone was either on a real, physical vacation or a mental one. It was a common presumption in many industries. In the media, it was almost always blamed on the retail sector. (It also gave some credibility to the notion that no-one watched TV in the summer as they were “outside.” Right?). Retailers anxiously awaited the “Back-To-School” windfall, it was thought. If you sold any media other than TV, you finally had an angle.

Recession notwithstanding, these days, most folks who watch TV are dedicated ALL YEAR LONG! And they are online. And they listen to the radio. And on and on. Most retailers have aggressive weekly sales promotions that are designed to keep drawing in buyers constantly without a break. So what is with the continued adherence to some sectors? The very same corporate folks who lament poor earnings at the end of Q2 and the beginning of Q3 probably sang the same sad song last year and the year before and the year before and the year before…. Enough already!

Perhaps especially in light of the economic crisis we are still trying to recover from, but even more so from the standpoint that the world has changed and business has changed, it is time that we ALL get real about what the new economy means and what it does not. And what it surely does not mean is that our old habits and ways of thinking will work well in today’s new business environment. We’ve got to get off of our excuses (real and perceived) and think more, plan more, sell more and do more than ever before. And we can’t take a vacation all summer long and expect for things to get better. It just isn’t going to happen.

From August 16th to the 20th, the leading experts in the fields of search engine marketing and social media outreach are converging on San Francisco’s Moscone Center to share, exchange, and learn from others in this dynamic industry.

Ensuring that a company’s website performs well in search engine searches is key, whether the website is for a Mom and Pop auto shop or a major corporation like CNN.  Thus, the sessions presented at SES target a variety of professionals: web designers who want to learn how to design sites that have optimal search engine visibility; marketers who want to help their clients become more visible online; major brands who want to enter the online realm for the first time or better control their image online; and more.

In addition to the search engine component of SES, many sessions are devoted to how to best use social media to reach customers and participate in the dialogue around one’s product or industry.  The wonderful aspect of social media is that anyone with minimal computer skills can start a Facebook page or Twitter account; the tricky part is learning how to best use those tools to achieve core business/marketing objectives.  Sessions at SES aim to address this issue.

Speakers include Jeffrey Hayzlett, former CMO at Kodak; Susan Bratton, co-founder of Personal Life Media, and a noted expert on podcasts and interviews; noted author Bryan Eisenberg; online marketing guru Aaron Kahlow, and many, many more.  Sponsors include Bing, Google, HispanicMPR, iContact, Compete, Verisign, andn more.  We’ve been attending all week; we hope to see you there!

Social networking is rapidly becoming a key channel for customers to keep track of their favorite companies. As a result, it is also pushing those companies to get much more serious and active in social media marketing, and online communications management, according to a new study from market research company Invoke Solutions.

Invoke’s recent study showed that 65% of social media users follow a company or brand on Facebook, and 47% had posted a comment on a company Facebook page. That is significant.  More than 31% of social networkers follow a brand or company’s tweets, according to that study. When you consider that many Latinos rely more heavily on social networks, it stands to reason that any corporate social media marketing and communications strategy must take that important market segment into serious consideration. That’s where watchful eyes and critical fingers are.

Interesting also that those who follow companies on Twitter seem more active in leveraging a wide variety of social media outlets to engage with their favorite brands, the study found: 68% comment on a company’s page, 47% post comments on their own Facebook page and 25% tweet and blog about brands.

No matter how you slice it, social media is no longer merely a kid’s game and lonely hearts platform. It is becoming an increasingly more significant element in marketing, communications management and product marketing in both the B2C and B2B arenas. Now would be a good time to start aligning with a trusted vendor partner to help you navigate those waters, whether you are buying or selling.

While our focus is generally on the Hispanic market, there are various segments that are represented by the “multicultural” label.  This includes advertisers, publishers and agencies focused on Hispanic, Asian-American, African-American- and even LGBT.

In the news in the last week alone, there have been some important decisions made by the courts that affect these groups and those working with them.

1. Arizona’s SB 1070 had 7 key provisions blocked by a U.S. District judge.
2. In California, Proposition 8, which was a voter-approved proposition that defined a marriage as between a man and a woman, was overturned by a U.S. District Court Judge.
3. Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled that every state must recognize gay marriages performed in Mexico City.

With an estimated 10.8 million illegal immigrants in this country, the immigration debate is sure to continue.  However, one of the biggest debates will be how to apply laws to stem illegal immigration without negatively impacting the remainder of the almost 50 million Hispanics in this country.  By the way, it should be noted that not all of the 10.8 million illegal residents in the U.S. are from Mexico or Latin America, as many may think.

The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimates that there are approximately 8.8 million gay, lesbian, and bisexual persons in the U.S. (based on the 2005/2006 American Community Survey, an extension of the U.S. Census).  This is another segment of multicultural marketing that is growing, and considering that the Proposition 8 battle in California was the highest-funded campaign ever on any state ballot, with opponents and supporters raising over $80 million, same-sex marriage too will continue to be a hotly debated issue.  Yet even a very Catholic country like Mexico has accepted that marriage is a right that is not exclusive to opposite-sex marriage.

While everyone has their own opinion on how they feel about the individual issues and rulings, aside from working with both the supporters and opponents of the various initiatives, most of the agencies and service providers to the advertising industry are not necessarily interested in the politics- just the key facts.  There are significant numbers of immigrants (legal AND illegal), citizens of many different backgrounds, and a large LGBT community, which are all increasingly important.  As marketers we care about how many there are and how we can reach them- otherwise the court battles are for the politicians.

With so many more new advertisers in the online space and with an increasing number of publisher/content provider options, it is little wonder that audience targeting has seen a major upsurge in interest among agencies and client-side marketers alike. It has been estimated that more than three-quarters of marketers are now employing some type of targeting. That is smart marketing. For some, however, it can be a bit daunting. The good news is that the learning curve isn’t as steep as it once was, and there are an increasing number of tools and services available now to make the job of collecting and analyzing data and deploying new targeting strategies more user-friendly than ever before. You merely have to dig in and learn and press your vendor partners to help you get up to speed. Most will be more than glad to help, and the payoff can be huge.

Targeted advertising, whether by geography, past behaviors or retargeted ads offer better information to the consumer by taking their preferences into account. A consumer in one geographic area, for example, has no need for a sales type ad from a store or company with no location or other way to serve them other than that area. By the same token, retargeting ads to consumers who may have clicked through an ad but then left the landing page has a better chance at reengaging that consumer than one who only serves them a new advertisement. Logical right?

Savvy marketers are coming to understand that behavioral and demographic targeting represent their best options for more efficient and effective online campaigns. And more and more online publishers are now apparently in agreement and provide the facility to support them. As these methodologies and their understanding matures, and more and more marketers engage them and publishers support them, there will of course need to be more transparency and measurability moving forward. So far, the process seems to be getting better and better. It is the future and the future for many, is now!