Targeted-Ad Initiative Is Crucial for MySpace†

Questions Multiply On Site's Potential to Turn a Big Profit

Wall Street Journal, August 4, 2008 — When News Corp. reports its fiscal 2008 earnings Tuesday, investors will scrutinize the company's plans to generate more advertising revenue from the enormous amount of traffic on its MySpace social-networking Web site.

One initiative that could be critical to MySpace's success, according to media buyers and industry analysts, is a system that lets marketers aim their ads at particular groups of users. As part of this "hypertargeting" system, MySpace has analyzed the profiles of its users to gauge their interests and then categorized them into more than 1,000 "buckets," including rodeo watchers, scrapbook enthusiasts and "Dancing With the Stars" viewers.

Generation Gab†

Brandweek, July 2, 2008 — For those who think media fragmentation and niche marketing have redefined marketing permanently, here's something to chew on. What if the microscopically splintered youth demo out there right now—recent college grads on down to kids riding the bus to preschool—ends up gelling, melting and solidifying into a uniform power bloc of consumers? And what if, contrary to popular wisdom, they're not self-important, undisciplined individualists riding on digital highs, but a team-playing, risk-averse group that fosters familial bonding? All this would mean that Gen Y actually looks a lot more like, well, AARP. It would mean that the billions of dollars'worth of microtargeted marketing being created right now just could be a . . . waste of time? Then what?

Brands Adjust to Media Fragmentation

One way media synergy might pay off

eMarketer, June 27, 2008 — Marketers have long focused on segmenting consumers, to approach them via the media channels and destinations they use most. But in many markets, media fragmentation has made reaching a large enough audience increasingly difficult.

Smartphones Now Ringing for Women

New York Times, June 11, 2008 — If recent history is any guide, roughly a third of the people snapping up Apple’s new iPhone are likely to tote it in a purse.

In a big shift for the phone industry, women have emerged as eager buyers of not just iPhones but of all so-called smartphones — BlackBerrys, Treos and other models

New Wii Games Find a Big (but Stingy) Audience

Marketing its Wii video-game system at a lower price than competitors, Nintendo has caught a wider net of potential customers, but game sales have also been slower with this softer audience.

New York Times, April 21, 2008 — Ninetendo sits atop the home video-game market. Its Wii, though less technologically advanced than Microsoft’s Xbox 360 or Sony’s PlayStation 3, continues to outsell those machines and is now in more than 20 million homes.

So why are retailers having so much trouble selling Wii games?

Beaming Online Services Toward Blacks

New York Times, April 14, 2008 — CHEAP computers and Internet connections have helped people get online in greater numbers in recent years. Now Barry Diller’s IAC/InteractiveCorp wants to make money by helping minority groups connect more easily to specific sites.

TV Learning Importance of Targeting†

Wall Street Journal, April 4, 2008 — The advertising industry has long had a hunch that consumers are more apt to watch a television commercial if they actually are in the market for the product or service being pitched. Now, they have some evidence.

A 16-month study by cable company Comcast and Starcom MediaVest, a media firm owned by Publicis Groupe, found that households that had ads targeted to them were about a third less likely to change the channel than those that were shown traditional ads.

Fortified Water Has Gone to the Dogs†

Beverage Makers Target Canines and Kids as They Chase Shares of Booming $1.46 Billion Category

Advertising Age, February 25, 2008 — How many more ways can marketers possibly target "enhanced" water? At least two: for kids and dogs.

Cott Corp. earlier this month introduced Fortifido, described as the "first-ever fortified water for pets with real functional benefits." The brand comes in vitamin-enhanced formulas to promote healthy bones, healthy skin, fresh breath and healthy joints in flavors including spearmint, parsley and peanut butter.

Meanwhile, Bot Beverages, which markets a line of kid-targeted waters in orange, grape and berry flavors that have no artificial sweeteners and preservatives, is looking to support its growing distribution with an inaugural marketing campaign.

On the Run

Forbes, February 11, 2008 — In a sweltering, claustrophobic chamber the size of a storage closet, a sweat-glazed man in a running top pounds away on a treadmill in the Nike Sports Research Lab in Beaverton, Ore. Wires attached to thermal sensors sprout from his body. Heat lamps beat down on him. Moist air blasts through an overhead vent.

Yet even as Chevy popped the clutch in reverse†

Brandweek, January 21, 2008 — The tool it used to cook up "Come Together and Worship" is, at the moment, thriving. We are, of course, talking about microtargeting—the practice of using complex psychographic datamining to direct tailored marketing messages at narrow slices of the consuming public. Sound familiar? It should. In the ad world, market segmentation has been the norm since the 1960s. But today's marketers have one thing their wing-tip-wearing ancestors did not: Web 2.0