| Home | Business | Brand | Marketing | Innovation | Design |
To view the latest BackPocket articles, visit the home page.
Reuters, May 30, 2007 — Google Inc. said it was building Web software that runs online and off to let users work remotely on planes, trains, slow dial-up connections or even the most remote locations in the world
Wall Street Journal, May 30, 2007 — It's time for computer designers to think outside the box. From Microsoft Corp. to Silicon Valley start-ups, technology companies are introducing computers with fundamentally new forms.
MediaPost Publications, May 29, 2007 — FOLLOWING AN EXHAUSTIVE SEARCH, AOL has chosen John Burbank, formerly AT&T's vice president of marketing, as its new chief marketing officer,
Wall Street Journal, May 29, 2007 — General Mills Inc. is hoping a brand of dinner kits imported from China will persuade consumers to trade in their restaurant chopsticks for kitchen woks
Advertising Age, May 29, 2007 — the Wild West that is virtual-world marketing, Coca-Cola is the latest settler to amble into town. It's hoping it can still cash in on the buzz factor without getting brought down by the same mistakes others have made in their rush to Second Life
Advertising Age, May 29, 2007 — Marketing accountability has a dirty little secret.
The secret is that marketing-accountability programs can be a complete waste of time — unless they are designed to inform business decisions.
Wall Street Journal, May 29, 2007 — The next big Internet race might turn the buying and selling of advertising space on Web sites into the online equivalent of the pork-bellies pit.
Chicago Tribune, May 28, 2007 — The line between real and fantasy sports is about to become a little more blurred.
A partnership with ESPN is allowing video gamemaker Electronic Arts Inc. to dramatically increase real-time content in sports-themed video games.
New Yorker, May 28, 2007 — Technology is supposed to make our lives easier, allowing us to do things more quickly and efficiently. But too often it seems to make things harder, leaving us with fifty-button remote controls, digital cameras with hundreds of mysterious features and book-length manuals, and cars with dashboard systems worthy of the space shuttle. This spiral of complexity, often called “feature creep,” costs consumers time, but it also costs businesses money.
BusinessWeek, May 28, 2007 — Motorola's (MOT ) unveiling of a portfolio of new phones on May 15 was the usual hypefest. In a loft-like dance studio in New York's Chelsea neighborhood, Chief Executive Edward J. Zander, bathed in a red and purple glow, stood between two large video screens beaming images of the new handsets. The usual celebrity endorsers were on video, in this case Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas and soccer heartthrob David Beckham.
FORTUNE, May 28, 2007 — If you ran one of the biggest companies in the world and you had a chance to change your name and reinvent your brand, you'd probably go with something that had a little personality. Something a tad offbeat. Something that appealed to the savvy youth market. Like Apple, maybe, or Orange.
Or you could go with AT&T
BusinessWeek, May 28, 2007 — Ricky Van Veen has an important question for his lawyer, and that's why he is diving for the phone. He and his staff have just dreamed up an advertiser-supported contest. The prize: free plastic surgery. "Is that legal?" he asks General Counsel Josh Sussman excitedly.
New York Times, May 27, 2007 — As its rivals have diversified and taken risks, the Coca-Cola Company has struggled to reinvent itself.
New York Times, May 26, 2007 — With the help of beverage experts, Mr. Bikoff started mixing his own water-based beverage, spiked with vitamins, which became the popular Vitaminwater. Yesterday, he sold the drink maker Glacéau to Coca-Cola for $4.1 billion, a substantial sum for a company whose products are not yet readily available all across the country
New York Times, May 26, 2007 — From an advertiser’s perspective, it sounds so easy: invite the public to create commercials for your brand, hold a contest to pick the best one and sit back while average Americans do the creative work.
Financial Times, May 24, 2007 — Google’s ambition to maximise the personal information it holds on users is so great that the search engine envisages a day when it can tell people what jobs to take and how they might spend their days off. Eric Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, said gathering more personal data was a key way for Google to expand and the company believes that is the logical extension of its stated mission to organise the world’s information.
GigaOM, May 24, 2007 — What’s the ROI on marketing in Second Life? After attacking the topic from a couple directions (most SL users seem receptive, but so far, are largely unimpressed with existing attempts), we finally have some concrete numbers to work with, at least on the more relevant metric of unique visitors.
Forbes, May 23, 2007 — With all the bad news recently about corporate scandals you might be forgiven for wondering which companies actually have good reputations. For the eighth year, Reputation Institute, a New York City-based consultancy and research firm, conducted a study to find the answer. This year's winner is Lego. Yes, Lego, the 70-year-old Danish toy manufacturer, scored No. 1 of 600 companies worldwide.
Advertising Age, May 23, 2007 — Want to nail down your consumers' wants and needs? Then don't just listen to them. Observing them won't either. And if you are using survey research or ethnographic research to better understand your consumers, think twice. The bottom line is, you may not be leveraging the best tools to understand your customers. The biggest opportunities for building your brand or growing your business lay in plain sight — but you might not see them
Associated Press, May 22, 2007 — Google Inc. is going to start sharing more insights about what's on its users' minds by showing a daily list of the 100 hottest topics on its Internet-leading search engine. The new rankings will be unveiled late Monday in an upgrade of Google's "trends" service. The breakdown will consist of the fastest-rising search requests on any given day.
ANA Marketing Maestros, May 22, 2007 — I like to keep track of what ANA members are doing in the blogosphere. I get asked who's blogging all of the time by our members . Marketers' appearance in the online world plays an important role with consumers and end users that demand transparency in the companies they give their loyalty too.
Advertising Age, May 22, 2007 — BusinessWeek has struck a deal to pair columns from the magazine with ads sold by Brand Connections, a "nontraditional" media company, on airplane tray tables starting next month.
BusinessWeek, May 22, 2007 — Does this mean virtual worlds are the next trend in big media acquisitions? Could be. Call it social networking 2.0: Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Time Warner, News Corp., Viacom — all demonstrated an interest in it. If one goes, others would follow
BusinessWeek, May 21, 2007 — A tense Steve Wilhite paced in a cavernous hall at New York's Jacob Javitz Convention Center on the afternoon of Apr. 4, intently rehearsing his presentation. Hyundai Motor America's chief operating officer was about to introduce the South Korean company's upscale Genesis sedan to the media at the New York International Auto Show. He was worrying over his prepared comments about the $30,000 to $35,000 sedan, which he would soon audaciously compare with both the BMW 5 Series and the Lexus ES350.
Advertising Age, May 21, 2007 — The Cingular brand name will go away more quickly than first expected. AT&T today announced it will accelerate the elimination of its Cingular Wireless brand by removing the name from all in-store signage, including kiosks and point-of-sale materials in 1,800 company-owned stores. Several high-profile stores in major markets will have new AT&T signs. Over the next few months, branding in arenas such as consumer touch points, handset logos and Nascar sponsorship also will be changed.
BusinessWeek, May 21, 2007 — Ford's recent marching order for its media buys sounded more like a personals ad than a marketing campaign: Find us women online age 25 to 54 who are independent and business-minded. The prize for delivering this special group of potential buyers? Ford Motor Co. (F ) would pay big bucks to run more than 200 million ads for its Lincoln Mercury line over three weeks on thousands of Web sites.
Advertising Age, May 21, 2007 — We're all creatures of habit. In its report "The Ritual Masters," BBDO agency investigates our shared habits in an attempt to work them to a marketer's advantage or find opportunities to break them
Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2007 — Facebook Inc. has bucked the Silicon Valley acquisition trend, remaining independent of larger technology companies. Now the social-networking start-up is seeking ways to reach the big leagues on its own.
Advertising Age, May 21, 2007 — Dan Henson started at GE in sales "about as low on the totem pole as you can go, in copier sales," he says. He worked his way up to sales management, and then in 1992, was selected to run a financial services company in Mexico City. In 1995 he relocated to London, where he assumed responsibility for GE's European equipment finance company. The business he was running grew 10-fold in a period of three years, he says, and that success put him on Jack Welch's radar screen.
Advertising Age, May 21, 2007 — Madison Avenue, make room for Microsoft.
Last week's $6 billion agreement to buy aQuantive is not just a bid to catch up with Google and Yahoo in ad sales. It also gives Redmond something it hasn't had before: Its very own ad agency.
Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2007 — From the theater to a 29½-foot-high contour bottle encased in a glass tower to more than 1,000 pieces of memorabilia, elaborately orchestrated schmaltz pervades the New World of Coca-Cola, a $96 million museum opening to the public Thursday. Coca-Cola Co. estimates that about a million people a year will visit the company's shrine to itself, which is roughly the size of 1½ football fields and located about a mile from Coke's headquarters.
Advertising Age, May 21, 2007 — Marketers in search of a few good women to spread the word about their products are finding themselves smack dab in the middle of the Mommy Wars. Sprint Nextel, Nintendo and General Motors Corp. all have been clamoring to reach the high-income, highly influential potential product advocator touted as the Alpha Mom. But now a backlash has begun in the form of the Beta Mom, the self-proclaimed antithesis of the superachieving Alpha.
eMarketer, May 21, 2007 — It would be a mistake to think that the average podcast user is a 23-year-old male with a college education and a really big comic book collection. Podcast users are not a homogeneous group, and downloads range from music to religious broadcasts to museum tours. That said, overall podcasting user demographics give a broad perspective on the medium.
Financial Times, May 19, 2007 — Second Life - you know, the online virtual world created by US-based company Linden Lab that is officially classed as a game but has evolved into big business, spawning real-life millionaires who have made a killing in virtual real estate - is at tipping point. No longer the domain of tech-geeks, Second Life is currently inhabited by around 6,035,000 avatars (digital alter egos of players), while Titanic director James Cameron is currently shooting a film called - yes - Avatar, to be closely followed byBattle Angelfeaturing an entirely computer-generated female lead. The currency of Second Life, the Linden dollar, is fully convertible to US dollars, and real-world businesses are vying for a virtual presence - especially fashion businesses. After all, think... continue reading
MediaPost Publications, May 18, 2007 — AMERICAN EXPRESS IS INVITING ITS card members (formerly known as holders) to participate in an initiative designed to generate ideas for making positive change in the world and raise money to make it happen. "The Members Project," which launched this month, invites consumers to membersproject.com, where they can submit and rate project ideas, join discussions on message boards and vote to choose one idea that the company will help bring to life with up to $5 million. The promotion ties in with American Express' new brand campaign, "Are You a Cardmember," which highlights the value of being part of the AmEx community.
MediaPost Publications, May 18, 2007 — AT A TIME WHEN MANY assume that younger, tech-savvy people are turning their backs on print media, a highly regarded researcher has come up with evidence that young adults actually read more consumer magazines than older folks. The discovery is the result of new methodological research developed by McPheters & Co. to identify better ways of collecting information on the household incomes of magazine readers. "While analyzing data from the new test, it became apparent that younger readers reported reading more magazines than older readers," the company said.
eMarketer, May 18, 2007 — Nearly half of search marketers placed content on social networking Web sites in February 2007, according to the "iProspect Search Marketer Social Networking Survey" sponsored by iProspect and conducted by JupiterResearch. Respondents said they had "proactively placed content" on MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn and other social networking sites. Marketers said they placed content on these sites to drive traffic, create brand awareness, sell directly and influence purchasing.
MediaPost Publications, May 17, 2007 — BABY BOOMERS WERE REVOLUTIONARY--BUT THEY are less brand-loyal than preceding generations. According to a study released this week by market-research firm Focalyst, a joint venture between AARP and the Kantar Group, boomers defy expectation. The Focalyst data provides specific measures of boomer "brand loyalty" for products and services, drawing on a panel of about 35,000 consumers over the age of 42.
Advertising Age, May 17, 2007 — Motorola is shifting its marketing strategy away from its mobile devices such as the Razr or Pebl to one more squarely focused on the consumer
By Eloy Trevino, May 17, 2007 — "Subway – Eat Fresh” describes one of the great brand positions of recent decades. While the fast food world built an epicenter around pre-cooked bacon burgers and super-sized fries, Subway built an empire by owning “healthy” in the middle of an obesity epidemic. And it did so with a gift from the marketing gods – Jared Fogel.
Over pizza, however, this subway has derailed.
The company recently unveiled plans for selling a deep-dish pizza in its U.S. stores. This full fat, pre-made (read:... continue reading
Advertising Age, May 17, 2007 — Want lots of word-of-mouth buzz behind a product launch? Your best bet may be a big ad campaign. That's the somewhat ironic conclusion of the first mash-up of data from two Nielsen Co. properties — the Nielsen BuzzMetrics word-of-mouth measurement service and ACNielsen Bases, which tests new-product concepts with consumers.
One of the most blogged-about package-goods launches in the study was Coca-Cola Co.'s Coke Zero.
eMarketer, May 17, 2007 — Over a quarter of males ages 13 to 34 watch video on devices other than TVs, according to E-Poll's "Multi-Platform Viewing of Video Content" report. The study of viewing habits in 2007 found three-quarters of consumers ages 13 and older viewed video content on PCs. Over half of those who watched video content online said they were interested in transferring it to their television sets.
eMarketer, May 17, 2007 — Word-of-mouth (WOM) gets executives to buy, according to the "Driving Word of Mouth Advocacy Among Business Executives: The Experiential Marketing Connection" report, conducted by the Keller Fay Group and sponsored by Jack Morton Worldwide. Half of those surveyed said that WOM would both get them to buy and pass along the word themselves.
MediaPost Publications, May 16, 2007 — IN A MOVE THAT BODES well for the future of mobile marketing, AOL has agreed to acquire Third Screen Media for an undisclosed sum. The mobile ad firm will now operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL's third-party ad network Advertising.com
Brandweek, May 16, 2007 — The findings of a new study reinforce what many in the marketing world have been suspecting—or, in some cases, already experiencing firsthand—for several years: The traditional, static model of a single ad agency or a fixed roster of agencies working on a brand is being supplanted by an open-source model. The report, titled Deeper Consumer Resonance: Architecting an Open-Source Agency Partnership Model, was released last month by the Marketing Communications Roundtable of the Washington-based Corporate Executive Board, a professional network that counts 3,700 executives from the country's leading corporations as its members.
MediaPost Publications, May 16, 2007 — GREEN MEANS GO FOR ADVERTISERS like Dawn, Ford and P&G, as environmentally conscious social media site Care2.com has expanded its community offerings.
New York Times, May 16, 2007 — Hewlett-Packard’s effort to transform its personal computers from low-margin commodities into more stylish devices has started to pay off. As shown by the company’s fiscal second-quarter earnings, announced Wednesday afternoon, a new PC strategy has become a major driver of growth. Revenue increased 12.7 percent from the period a year earlier, to $25.5 billion, and the PC division was an important factor.
BusinessWeek, May 16, 2007 — As an innovator, you’ve likely encountered some of the most challenging and risky problems in the world of business. Let’s grow this lagging brand. Let’s envision the future of our market. Let’s connect to a whole new set of users and customers. When it comes to generating business growth by bringing new things into the world, the stakes are high, and risk is everywhere.
DMNews, May 16, 2007 — Federated Department Stores has taken a stake in The Epicenter Collection, the new mall concept designed to showcase catalogers, e-tailers and individual brands. Gordon Group Holdings, which first developed The Epicenter Collection several years ago, announced yesterday that Federated has leased a former Lord & Taylor store in Delaware to Epicenter in exchange for an equity interest in the company.
Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2007 — Entrepreneurs tend to pitch their start-ups with plucky certitude about their projects' usefulness and chances for success. Listen, though, to how entrepreneurism expert Guy Kawasaki describes Truemors.com, his start-up Web site opening for business today. "It's true that it could have no purpose," he says. "I don't want to be known as a Web 2.0 company, but we're a Web 2.0 company."
Advertising Age, May 16, 2007 — Motorola is shifting its marketing strategy away from its mobile devices such as the Razr or Pebl to one more squarely focused on the consumer. Casey Keller, in one of his first interviews since being named chief marketing officer last October, said Motorola believes the mobile-phone market has evolved into one where consumers have higher expectations about their products, whether they are talking, listening to music, taking pictures or surfing the web.
New York Times, May 16, 2007 — Motoral, the mobile phone giant, is hoping to revive its business prospects with some slick new phones and a little celebrity gloss. At an event yesterday in New York, the company announced a sequel to the company’s hit Razr phone; an update to the Motorola Q, its rival to the BlackBerry; and a new line of handsets designed to play music, video and games
Knowledge@Wharton, May 16, 2007 — The average person, according to the experts, makes 200 food-related choices a day. Actually, make that 201 choices. Courtesy of a new campaign by a leading restaurant chain, diners who are used to choices that make their meals bigger can now actually choose to order portions that are significantly smaller.
KenRadio, May 16, 2007 — Led by MySpace, social networking is a cultural phenomenon that is still developing a stable revenue model. Even so, it is estimated that in 2007 marketers will spend $900 million on advertising and marketing on social network sites in the US, mostly to create profile pages and sponsored promotions. Online social networking have become a cultural phenomenon over the past several year, sparking thousands of media stories, blog postings and television exposes.
Advertising Age, May 16, 2007 — Branding is so popular in boardrooms today that some companies are overdoing it. "If one brand is good," goes the thinking, "then two must be better."
MediaPost Publications, May 15, 2007 — YAHOO KICKED OFF ITS "BE a Better Planet" program with an event in New York City's Times Square hosted by Matt Dillon and Global Green USA CEO Matt Petersen. Yahoo also donated a fleet of taxis to the Big Apple to coincide with the launch of Yahoo Green--a new portal aiming to be a one-stop environmental resource
MediaPost Publications, May 15, 2007 — USER-GENERATED CONTENT (UGC) HAS GONE mainstream, according to a new report from Internet market consultancy JupiterResearch. Per the firm, in the past month, half of all online users have either created UGC or read items posted by others. In a study titled "User-Generated Content: Strategies for Media Sites," JupiterResearch reports that UGC is now a mainstream activity for millions of consumers.
New York Times, May 15, 2007 — What Starbucks did for coffee and JetBlue did for air travel, a growing number of new hotel brands is trying to do for the overnight stay: create an experience that offers something different from the status quo, then replicate it around the globe. While some of these new brands are filling holes in the portfolios of major hotel companies like InterContinental, Starwood and Hyatt, others are being developed from scratch. Called “branded boutiques” or “lifestyle hotels” (labels that make some hoteliers cringe), the goal is to combine the design sensibility and character of a boutique hotel with the marketing and operational advantages of a brand.
eMarketer, May 15, 2007 — Broadband users spend almost half their spare time in a typical weekday online, according to Media-Screen's "Netpop|Play" report. A copy of the study provided to eMarketer stated that the average broadband user spent an hour and 40 minutes of her typical weekday spare time online.
MediaPost Publications, May 15, 2007 — WATCH OUT, MYSPACE--BECAUSE NBC DIGITAL this fall plans to launch its own social network, which will be integrated into NBC.com to encourage visitor interaction and involvement.
The Conference Board, May 15, 2007 — George Eastman’s dry-emulsion film simplified and popularized the art of photography. In 1888, he registered the trademark Kodak to identify his film and the cameras that used it, and began advertising their ease of use: “You press the button, we do the rest.” By dint of his prodigious brand-building genius, the Eastman Co. soon laid claim to the leading position in a field of more than fifty competitors
eMarketer, May 15, 2007 — Call them Gen Y or Millennials or just "people ages 13-24." Whatever the name, this group spreads the word quickly on things it likes and enjoys user-generated content, according to the "State of the Media Democracy" report commissioned by Deloitte & Touche and conducted by Harrison Group.
BusinessWeek, May 15, 2007 — Banks, hardware stores and carmakers are doing more and more to woo female customers. They want to know what women really want.
Wall Street Journal, May 15, 2007 — TV critics have called "The New Adventures of Old Christine" one of the decade's funniest comedies. But when CBS recently wanted to create buzz for the show, critics weren't the targets of the publicity campaign.
Neither were newspaper feature writers, whom a publicist for the show's star, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, declared weren't "worth her time."
The so-called "mommy bloggers" were another matter
Brandweek, May 15, 2007 — In striving to become a lifestyle and not merely the hotel positioned on personal renewal, Westin Hotels & Resorts is going directly to the public today with answers to unusual questions. In an online effort developed in-house, the chain will, for example, tell potential customers how to measure muscle tone with the jiggle test, or find a natural expectorant through spicy foods. The Starwood Hotels & Resorts brand today introduces www.FindRenewal.com as well as an in-room TV channel flush with advice and recipes from experts who comprise Westin’s newly assembled Renewal Council.
cNet News, May 15, 2007 — Yahoo blankets its campus in its trademark color purple and encourages employees to wear Yahoo-branded gear to work in its efforts to build its brand, according to Cammie Dunaway, chief marketing officer at the search and portal company. Yahoo offers contests for the most dedicated evangelist among its 13,000 global employees, she said during the keynote speech at the Liquid Agency Brand Summit 2007 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Palo Alto, Calif., Tuesday morning.
Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2007 — In a major shift for prime-time television, NBC Universal will reverse the flow of episodes for a hit show, airing originals of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" on its USA cable network and repeats on NBC. The move marks the first time a major broadcast asset has moved to cable, underscoring the degree to which the cable networks have eroded the position of old-line networks.
MediaPost Publications, May 14, 2007 — A NEW STUDY BY OMNICOM'S BBDO Worldwide suggests that injecting your brands into the rituals that define people is critical to making them an immutable part of consumer shopping lists. BBDO's study, with the gothic title "The Ritual Masters," defines rituals as actions that "move people emotionally from one place to another." It deems brands that are embedded in rituals "Fortress Brands" because once ensconced in peoples' ritual lives--brushing teeth, buying a beer, or shaving, for example--people are unlikely to remove them.
Brandweek, May 14, 2007 — A new study finds that 21% of shoppers that are loyal to a particular brand require it to be on sale before they'll make the purchase. Some shoppers will even travel to other stores in search of deals, according to the online survey of 650 grocery shoppers conducted in April by Synovate, Chicago. The phenomenon was most common among ice cream brands where 36% of respondents were dubbed system beaters.
Marketing Charts, May 14, 2007 — Broadband users now spend 48% (about one hour and 40 minutes) of their spare time online during a typical weekday, and some 54% (54 minutes) of that online time is spent accessing activities related to entertainment and communication, according to a new report, titled “Netpop | Play,” by research firm Media-Screen.
Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2007 — A year ago, CBS Corp. announced the creation of Innertube, an entertainment channel on CBS.com designed to make the company a player in online video. It streams video of sporting events, news reports and reruns of shows such as the hit comedy "How I Met Your Mother." CBS's new chief Internet strategist now jokes that the Web address for Innertube should be "CBS.com/nobodycomeshere."
Advertising Age, May 14, 2007 — Two gorgeous, crazy girls steal an underwear collection, kidnap a sales manager and lock themselves in a hotel room with their victim for five days.
This was Diesel's unconventional approach to marketing its Intimate Collection, but it may well have put the company in the frame for a Cyber Grand Prix at this year's Cannes International Advertising Festival.
Advertising Age, May 14, 2007 — Two gorgeous, crazy girls steal an underwear collection, kidnap a sales manager and lock themselves in a hotel room with their victim for five days. This was Diesel's unconventional approach to marketing its Intimate Collection, but it may well have put the company in the frame for a Cyber Grand Prix at this year's Cannes International Advertising Festival. The Swedish clothing brand caused a stir by staging the stunt and then streaming the whole five-day event at Diesel.com.
Advertising Age, May 14, 2007 — A.G. Lafley's turnaround of Procter & Gamble Co. has been little short of miraculous, and the package-goods giant continues to beat its stated targets. Yet the question is being asked: Can the sorcerer keep conjuring organic growth with his marketing magic, or is it time to bring in the bankers and divest some of the company's poorer-performing brands?
New York Times, May 14, 2007 — Maybe Americans don’t need dressing rooms after all.
For the first time since online retailing was born a decade ago, the sales of clothing have overtaken those of computer hardware and software, suggesting that consumers have reached a new level of comfort buying merchandise on the Web.
FORTUNE, May 14, 2007 — Lately the script of Jeff Zucker's life seems plucked from the pages of a sitcom. Just consider: In the three months since ascending to the CEO position at NBC Universal, he has had to deal with a comely financial anchor's controversial jet-setting (Maria Bartiromo), a shock jock who got into hot water after an idiotic on-air outburst (Don Imus),
New York Times, May 14, 2007 — As the big agencies get ready for the biggest week of the year for the biggest advertising medium, changes are coming that can only be called, well, big. The medium is of course broadcast television, which remains a powerful way to peddle products despite the recent inroads made by alternative ways to watch programs, which include the Internet, digital video recorders, cellphones, DVD players and video on demand.
USA Today, May 13, 2007 — Wal-Mart shoppers can now add one more item to their carts: Skype's Internet phones. Handsets, webcams and other gear from Skype, a pioneer in PC-to-PC calling, will be sold in more than 1,800 Wal-Mart stores starting Monday. The Wal-Mart partnership is the latest sign that Skype has arrived on Main Street, says Don Albert, vice president of Skype's North American operations.
New York Times, May 12, 2007 — Marketers usually boast about what they have added to their products. Increasingly, though, they are bragging about what they are taking out — by cutting down on packaging and its impact on the environment
Washington Post, May 11, 2007 — Marketers have always loved consumers who so identify with a brand that they become its evangelists, wearing the logo on their backsides and preaching to their friends about its virtues.
Now, we consumers are becoming evangelists in new and surreptitious ways. Online, we spend quality time with advertising, we star in it and we send it to our friends. We the people have been co-opted into selling ourselves.
And we rather like it.
Science Daily, May 11, 2007 — The majority of advertising exposure occurs when the audience's attention is focused elsewhere, such as while flipping through a magazine or browsing a web site. However, a new study reveals that even this incidental exposure to advertising may have a positive effect on consumer attitudes. Forthcoming in the June issue of the Journal of Consumer Research, the study revises existing theories of exposure advertising, specifically repeated views of web-based banner ads.
Advertising Age, May 11, 2007 — Climate change is wreaking havoc on the airwaves. Everywhere marketers look, they see network prime-time ratings melting away — huge blocks of audiences simply snapping off, top-rated shows sinking to record lows. Digital video recorders and Nielsen Media Research's ability to track users have become to TV what global warming is to planet Earth.
Wall Street Journal, May 11, 2007 — Johnson & Johnson has joined a growing list of marketers who are dissatisfied with the way advertising firms are structured, and it is calling for more collaboration between the people who do the consumer research and the people who actually create the ads. J&J's comment comes a month after Procter & Gamble, the U.S.'s largest advertiser by spending, offered a similar critique. Typically, the communications planning and creative functions are run by separate companies, which marketers say often gets in the way of sharing consumer insights and finding the best way to reach the public.
JaffeJuice, May 11, 2007 — Earlier this week, I challenged Delta to stop talking about change and change already! I criticized a bloated 30-second spot which essentially says, "we're changing", but offers no proof. In addition, it sets them up for failure with typical mismatched expecations between communication and ground-level activation (service, baggage handling, delays, comfort - I could go on)
My point was simple: instead of telling us you're changing, why not prove it to us? Why not update us regularly with - for example - a Twitter group.
Advertising Age, May 10, 2007 — Prime time used to be "appointment television" time. Problem is that these days many viewers, especially the younger generation, are skipping their appointments. Sure, Fox continues to break records with "American Idol," logging 70 million votes for its contestants in mid-April. And no network would consign the Super Bowl or Academy Awards, the top two live TV events, to any other daypart.
MarketingVox, May 10, 2007 — Advertisers are beginning to believe in the power and importance of the internet as a marketing tool, but many fail to use the medium as an effective advertising vehicle, according to a news study from WPP's GroupM. The study, called Interaction, examines what advertisers should demand of the internet and suggests how to create a strategy to achieve their goals, writes MarketingCharts.
MediaPost Publications, May 10, 2007 — A NEW STUDY FROM WPP'S research arms indicates a major shift in U.S. consumers' thinking--nearly all Americans surveyed had a high degree of consciousness about the environment that impacted their buying patterns and brand preferences as compared with a year ago, with eight in 10 consumers saying they believe it's important to buy green brands and products from green companies, and that they'll pay more to do so.
Wall Street Journal, May 9, 2007 — Pet owners have been reeling ever since tainted pet food led to the confirmed deaths of more than a dozen dogs and cats and likely sickened many more. Some owners were also startled to learn that dozens of competing brands, from discount to premium, are all made by the same company, Menu Foods Inc. of Ontario.
eMarketer, May 9, 2007 — About 1.3 million people worldwide logged into Second Life (SL) in March 2007, according to comScore. That is up 46% over the number of active residents in January 2007. The virtual environment (purists don't call it a game) has a global following, with Europeans comprising 61% of residents as of March. Another 19% were from North America, and 13% hailed from the Asia-Pacific region.
Adweek, May 9, 2007 — A new study from WPP's GroupM asserts that all marketers—not just those who transact business on the Internet—need to have an online presence regardless of how much (or how little) product they sell in cyberspace. In the digital age consumers expect a Web presence, according to the study, which looks at worldwide trends in online marketing.
KenRadio, May 8, 2007 — According to a new study by E-Poll, which focused on the viewing of video content, showed the youth are leading the way, with 26% of males 13-34 frequent viewers of video on devices other than a TV. Teens are by far the most prevalent users of mobile video devices such as iPods and cell phones. The proliferation of user-generated content and expanding viewing platforms makes for a dizzying array of viewing choices. The study of consumers 13+, to see what they are doing with this freedom to choose, found that among those that view video content away from the TV the desktop computer had 75% of the group.
Prophet, May 8, 2007 — In this article, Michael Dunn advises business-to-business brands to do their homework before entering the Chinese market. Are strategic partnerships the way to drive customer loyalty?
eMarketer, May 8, 2007 — A solid majority of Americans own PCs and mobile phones, but the gadgets play a minimal role in the lives of almost half of US adults, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project's "A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users" study. Nearly three-fourths of US adults surveyed had a mobile phone, and 68% had a desktop computer.
Brandweek, May 7, 2007 — Aquafina is thirsting to "Make your body happy" in a whole new way. The PepsiCo-owned bottled water brand will flow from the beverage aisle into the health & beauty segment with Aquafina Advanced Hydration RX, a 10-SKU skincare line from licensee Added Extras.
Brandweek, May 7, 2007 — What executive wouldn't? The catch is, Feil—and the food-industry analysts who've been carefully watching Sara Lee since CEO Brenda Barnes took the helm in 2005—may have to hang out a while longer; that transformation hasn't wholly materialized. According to Barnes—and to Feil, whom she brought aboard as CMO of Sara Lee's Food & Beverage division—things are well underway.
Financial Times, May 7, 2007 — The £11.1bn acquisition of Alliance Boots will put Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, the private equity group, in an unfamiliar position as steward of one of Britain's most trusted brands. That runs counter to the image of private equity as ruthlessly focused on cost-cutting and financial engineering rather than the less quantifiable area of brand communications.
New York Times, May 7, 2007 — FOR decades, consumers have been able to choose a credit card based on its affiliation with a particular group — a college alumni association, for example, a sports team or a retailer that offers reward points. Now a start-up company called Sonopia is trying to apply the same concept to the cellphone market. The idea is that instead of having to share space on the screen with a brand name like Sprint, Verizon or T-Mobile, an organization that works with Sonopia can put its own logo on the phones.
Advertising Age, May 7, 2007 — Quick: what's Angus — a cut of beef or a bovine breed?
When Hardee's asked the question four years ago, many respondents didn't know. "They weren't really sure, but they did know it was better quality," said Brad Haley exec VP-marketing for parent CKE Restaurants.
And that's the point. Consumers might be confused by the nuances that separate Angus, Kobe and other high grades of meat, but they are still willing to pay more for primo proteins — good news for a $100 billion wholesale-meat industry with notoriously slim margins and growth that limps along at the same rate as the population. (Angus is a breed, by the way.)
Advertising Age, May 7, 2007 — On a Monday evening in late April, the night before the Association of National Advertisers' first Brand Innovation Forum, four marketing executives gathered for a private dinner at Django, a French-Mediterranean restaurant in the shadow of Grand Central Terminal in New York. Their hosts for the evening: ANA President-CEO Bob Liodice and Advertising Age Editor Jonah Bloom and CMO Strategy Editor Jennifer Rooney. What drew Clorox VP-Marketing, Laundry and Home Care Tarang Amin, Wells Fargo Senior VP-Brand Strategy Katy Frohling, JetBlue VP-Sales and Marketing Andrea Spiegel and Home Depot Senior VP-CMO Roger Adams to the restaurant was less — we'd like to think — the lure of aged New York strip, beet salad and stuffed squid and more the invitation to... continue reading
Marketing Pilgrim, May 7, 2007 — The Pew Internet & American Life Project published their findings of “A Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users,” on computer, Internet, mobile phone and other technology use among Americans. The full, 65-page study is available.
BusinessWeek, May 7, 2007 — Which brick-and-mortar retailer attracts the most shoppers to its Internet store? The answer may surprise you: J.C. Penney Corp. (JCP ), the century-old, moderate-priced department store chain so troubled six years ago that many were predicting its imminent demise.
Advertising Age, May 7, 2007 — Can the makers of Tide, Pampers and Crest be something other than the villainous intervener between you and your episode of "Desperate Housewives"? Can it be a source of useful, accurate information you freely search out from time to time, or even a beneficent force that you actually have — gasp — a continuing relationship with? It seems curious that a company such as Procter & Gamble, which grew into the world's largest package-goods marketer by shocking and awing American moms with bulky payloads of heavily tested ads, is even worrying about this stuff
MediaPost Publications, May 7, 2007 — ACCORDING TO A NEW COMSCORE analysis, Second Life's base of active residents grew by 46% to 1.3 million in the first quarter of 07. So even as brands grapple with how best or whether to use it, the virtual world's popularity is increasing--especially in Europe.
Financial Times, May 7, 2007 — Afew years ago Floriane de Saint Pierre, a Paris-based headhunter specialising in luxury and fashion, began to notice something strange. Some unlikely companies were coming to her in search of candidates to fill the position of creative director - the person in charge of image for a brand, from product design through to marketing, store visuals and so on.
Financial Times, May 7, 2007 — The media sector is in the midst of a technological revolution that is undermining traditional business models. The rise of the internet, mobile phones, multi-channel television, social networking and other phenomena have had a huge impact on content, advertising, brands, and the way all of these are delivered.
Brandweek, May 7, 2007 — What exactly is a 1080p flat-panel liquid crystal display? Which brand is the best one to buy? What kind of warranties do they come with? These are all questions that consumers research on their computers before they plunk down their credit cards.
New York Times, May 6, 2007 — Superman has the power to leap tall buildings. But leaping onto a cellphone screen is proving a little trickier. Warner Brothers recently created a six-episode series of short videos for mobile devices based on the popular Superman television show, “Smallville.” The episodes tracked the history of Oliver Queen, the “Smallville” billionaire mayor who, like Clark Kent, has a superhero alter ego, the Green Arrow.
New York Times, May 4, 2007 — Some of the amateur video producers who put clips on YouTube are turning pro. YouTube, the video-sharing site purchased last year by Google, said on Friday that it would begin placing ads alongside clips from some of its most popular contributors and share revenue from those ads with them. The program is small for now. Only 20 to 30 video producers, including YouTube celebrities like Lonelygirl15, HappySlip and smosh, have been invited to join.
New York Times, May 4, 2007 — Tony Hayward’s honeymoon is likely to be quite brief. Mr. Hayward, the newly named chief executive of BP, had been settling in for a smooth transition, traveling around the world to meet with employees and government officials as he prepared to take over the top spot at the London-based oil company in August. But he was hastily moved into the top job on Tuesday after John Browne quit in the midst of revelations about his personal life that had prompted him to lie to a court.
BusinessWeek, May 4, 2007 — At some point over the past few years you've probably been invited to join your colleagues at some hip off-site locale to brainstorm "out-of-the-box" ideas. You may have been persuaded by creativity consultants to play with Lego blocks to help free your mind or to "ideate" new products. But as silly as these exercises might have felt, things could have been far worse: You might have found yourself dressed up as Innovation Man.
Wall Street Journal, May 3, 2007 — Joe Rando has had no problem selling baked goods to residents of Nashville, Tenn., since he opened the first Dunkin' Donuts in the area in August. On opening day, he even sold out of doughnuts. But getting locals to make Dunkin' their regular stop for coffee — which has a higher profit margin than baked goods — has been more challenging. "Dunkin' is truly entrenched as a ritual for Northeastern customers," says Mr. Rando. In Nashville, he says, "we haven't necessarily changed the behavior — the coffee-buying behavior — yet."
eMarketer, May 3, 2007 — Everyone has some influence, but people with larger networks use more technology to spread theirs, according to "Understanding Influence, and Making It Work For You: A CNET Networks Study." Highly connected people use e-mail to keep up with their dozens of contacts. In fact, they use e-mail far more often than the phone to stay in touch.
Wall Street Journal, May 3, 2007 — Think of the best experience you've had as a consumer lately. Was it with a luxury company? Chances are, it wasn't. Vivian Deuschl, a 63-year-old Annandale, Va., hotel executive, wears Chanel ballet flats and carries a Prada bag, buys Burberry slippers for her daughter, and gives all manner of luxury items to her 16-month-old grandson. Her mailbox is chock-full of these companies' catalogs, yet she doesn't feel that they really care about her.
Los Angeles Times, May 3, 2007 — The studio behind the multibillion-dollar "Spider-Man" franchise is doing some Web slinging of its own. To snare outsize audiences for "Spider-Man 3," which cost about $400 million to make and release, Sony Pictures cast its widest online promotional net ever, using the Web in ways that were unimaginable when the superhero first scaled the big screen five years ago.
KenRadio, May 3, 2007 — Media and entertainment executives see the ability and eagerness of individuals to create their own content as one of the biggest threats to their business, according to a new survey by Accenture. 57% of the respondents identified the rapid growth of user-generated content (amateur digital videos, podcasts, mobile phone photography, wikis and social-media blogs) as one of the top three challenges they face today. And, 70% of respondents said they believe that social media, one of the largest segments of user-generated content, will continue to grow, compared with only 3% of respondents who said they view social media as a fad.
Brandweek, May 2, 2007 — Beer is pretty much beer. If a guy at a barbecue pulls a Budweiser out of the cooler, he expects that it's going to, at worst, taste bitter or watered-down. At best, it will probably just taste like regular ol' beer. The same can be said for a McDonald's meal: It's not going to taste like brunch at the Four Seasons. For beer, fast food and a host of everyday products, you can reasonably expect it'll be good enough—but you can't expect a lot.
MediaPost Publications, May 1, 2007 — LIFESTYLE TRENDS THAT HAMPER THE growth of traditional media are playing right into the hands of alternative out-of-home media, a new study shows, to create what is being dubbed "a perfect storm" for brand marketers who are looking for ways to engage consumers as they rush about in their daily lives. Alternative OOH media includes video advertising networks and screens; digital billboards and displays, and ambient or place-based advertising such as floor pads. It seeks to connect with more elusive consumers in captive environments such as retail, transit, cinema and office locations.
USA Today, May 1, 2007 — Apple is revamping its personalized customer service offerings in a bid to increase computer sales. The company will split its ProCare program Wednesday, leaving premium tech support with ProCare and creating an education unit called One to One. Each costs $99 a year. "Where most retail ends with the transaction, that's where we begin, and it's through participation," says Ron Johnson, Apple's senior vice president of retail.
eMarketer, May 1, 2007 — The buzz around collaborative Web 2.0 technologies keeps going, and it is easy to think that every firm now has a blog, a wiki and an RSS feed. In fact, a global survey of internal and corporate communications professionals found that more than half use blogs, online video and RSS, or plan to do so in the next 12 months.
Financial Times, May 1, 2007 — With frustration verging on despair, marketing gurus and brand managers worldwide bemoan the erosion of customer loyalty. The global power of consumer brands is not what it used to be and marketers resent it. They think their customers fickle ingrates. In the pungent phrase of WPP’s Marian Salzman, an executive “trend spotter” at the world’s second largest advertising conglomerate, consumers today are “brand sluts” who are most loyal to instant gratification.
Brandweek, May 1, 2007 — t’s been a busy spring for Discover. In the last two months, the Riverwoods, Ill., company has re-branded its platinum card, rolled out a new card for small business owners, one for WNBA fans, another for people who mostly use the card for automotive purchases and yet another that actually rewards cardholders who may not carry a balance. Oddly, the aim of all this isn’t to attract new customers as it is to reward the very loyal ones the company already has.
Fast Company, May 1, 2007 — In a connected economy, businesses can’t rely on the same old ideas from the same old people. To succeed, you need to seek out innovation from unexpected sources, in unexpected ways.A portfolio of sleuths, impresarios, and connectors who travel the leading edge in search of the undiscovered.
Information Week, May 1, 2007 — The NBA on Tuesday plans to launch NBA Headquarters, a Second Life area with games, interactivity, and community features designed to provide basketball fans with a place to get together and get involved. NBA's area can potentially bring Second Life basketball fans back for repeat business. That's a contrast to many of the other corporate areas in Second Life, which are sterile places where visitors might come once, but never return. NBA Headquarters, by contrast, has multiplayer games and a variety of other features designed to draw repeat visitors.
Advertising Age, May 1, 2007 — Procter & Gamble Co. will spend heavily on marketing for its year starting July 1 — possibly at the expense of margin goals — as it makes boosting top-line growth a priority, executives said today. The comments came as P&G issued quarterly results that, while meeting or exceeding its stated goals, failed to impress the market. P&G shares were down 2.2% to $62.95 today. Morgan Stanley analyst Bill Pecoriello said in a research note that P&G's trade-up of consumers to higher-priced items and its margins both were lower than he had expected.
MediaPost Publications, May 1, 2007 — REUTERS TODAY LAUNCHED A "VIRTUAL brand channel" for Hyundai Motor America, allowing the automaker's branding for its "Smart" campaign to appear online adjacent to relevant "Smart thinking" stories on Reuters.com in any topic. In a somewhat unusual relationship, Reuters editors worked with company engineers to devise an algorithm that would trigger "smart thinking" stories based on keywords and attributes identified by Hyundai and its agency Carat Fusion/Los Angeles.
Fast Company, May 1, 2007 — There were compelling reasons to send Juan Valdez off to the old folks home for advertising's ex-celebs. The fictional coffee-growing icon had been featured in ads for decades, helping establish "100% Colombian coffee" as a global brand. But Juan wasn't aging well. Recent TV spots showed him surfing with his faithful mule, Conchita, and popping up in kitchen pantries. While humorous, the ads reinforced the notion that Juan had become a bit of a joke.