Blogs Influence Consumer Purchases

KenRadio, November 4, 2008 — The number of those who read blogs at least once a month has grown 300% in the past four years, and what they read strongly influences their purchase decisions, playing a key role in ushering them to the point of actual purchase.

Campaigns in a Web 2.0 World

New York Times, November 3, 2008 — Shortly after 9 a.m. on Oct. 19, Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama for president during the taping of “Meet the Press” on NBC. Within minutes, the video was on the Web.But the clip was not rushed onto YouTube; it was MSNBC.com, the network’s sister entity online, that showed the video hours before television viewers on the West Coast could watch the interview for themselves.

Old media, apparently, can learn new media tricks.

Virgin Atlantic Poked by 'Facebook 13' Kerfuffle†

Posts on Social Network Shows Dangers of Public Oversharing

Advertising Age, November 3, 2008 — Having sacked a baker's dozen of its cabin crew for making disparaging remarks about everything from customers — "chavs" — to company jets, Virgin Atlantic is now dealing with a bit of user-generated criticism.

The saga of the "Facebook 13" began Friday, when the company said it had fired a bunch of employees who used one of the massively popular social network's groups for the purposes of deriding passengers, for questioning the jets' cleanliness and, most disturbing, for making the claim that its planes needed several engine replacements a year.

Where Is Generation X?

They may have grown up listening to Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” but a lot of things have changed since then. The Internet came along, for one.

eMarketer, November 3, 2008 — Generation X has come of age. No longer the grungy, ripped-jeans kids Time magazine first described in 1990, Gen Xers are in their peak years of product and service consumption. And they are embracing electronic media more fervently than they were even 18 years ago.

'Whassup' Comes Out for Obama†

Creator of Popular Budweiser Campaign Unleashes a Parody on Web to Court Voters

Wall Street Journal, October 29, 2008 — The well-known catchphrase "Whassup" helped sell countless cases of Budweiser. Can it help sell a presidential candidate?

The characters that starred in the hit Budweiser ad campaign, which debuted in 1999, are back on video again, but this time they aren't peddling beer. Instead, the characters are hawking Barack Obama.

Web Site’s Formula for Success: TV Content With Fewer Ads

New York Times, October 29, 2008 — “THUMBS up” and “thumbs down” ratings for commercials. Choose-your-own-advertisement options before shows begin. Interactive games during advertising breaks.

In the last year these online advertising innovations have been popularized by Hulu, the online video Web site that will celebrate its first anniversary on Wednesday. For all that has been written about Hulu’s easy-to-use, aesthetically pleasing interface, the advertising experience is equally important.

In the place of the long commercial pods that TV viewers have become accustomed to, only one ad is shown during each segment break on Hulu. Fewer ads make the ones on the site more memorable, Hulu executives say, allowing the site to charge higher prices for the ad units.

Study: Blogs Influence Purchases More Than Social Sites

ClickZ, October 28, 2008 — Blogs can have more impact on purchase decisions than social networks, a new study finds. Blogs create a conversation and trusted resource that influences purchase decision.

The study, "Harnessing the Power of Blogs," sponsored research by BuzzLogic and conducted by JupiterResearch, a Forrester Research company, looks at the evolving influence from the reader's perspective. "What we wanted to do was look at the reader's side of the coin, look at reader patterns and how people are reading blogs...and drill down into the content impacting other media platforms," said Valerie Combs, VP of corporate communications at BuzzLogic.

As the Lines Blur, Digital Agencies Are Taking Lead†

Today Agency-of-Record Status Can Go to Anyone; Just Ask Tribal or Tequila

Advertising Age, October 27, 2008 — Digital agencies are not only being invited to pitch brands as agencies of record — increasingly, they're winning.

Just last month, Tribal DDB was selected to lead global brand advertising for web security firm McAfee. Said the company's CMO, David Milam, at the time: "McAfee evaluated a number of agencies, and the team at Tribal DDB demonstrated strength in every aspect of their business. Not only did Tribal DDB have a number of great creative directions but, more importantly, they backed them up with strong strategic insights."

The Broadcast Ad Model Is Broken. Now What?†

Networks Race to Create Their Own Methods for Measuring Audiences

Advertising Age, October 27, 2008 — If today's TV buying is the model for the future, advertisers are in trouble.

Virtually all parties involved — marketers, media buyers and the media themselves — agree that in a video-on-demand world in which consumers control what they watch and when, the current broadcast advertising model is broken, or at the very least inadequate. What they don't yet agree on is the solution, leading to mass confusion as networks scramble to create their own measurements in a race to develop a standard for counting those precious eyeballs. The trouble is, they should be working together, not apart.

Twitter Goes Mainstream†

A lot more people -- and businesses -- are finding new ways to tweet

Wall Street Journal, October 27, 2008 — One of the hottest technologies in Silicon Valley is also one of the simplest.

The online service from Web start-up Twitter Inc. prompts users to do one thing: answer the question, "What are you doing?" in 140 characters or less. People type these brief updates, known as "tweets," into Twitter's site or send them to Twitter as text messages. Friends and colleagues can then check the site to monitor each other's updates.

When the service first appeared a couple of years ago, its appeal seemed largely limited to narcissists who wanted to let everybody know what they were doing in real time. But, like blogs and social-networking sites, Twitter is starting to cross into the mainstream, as a wide range of people find interesting uses for the brief notes.