ChaosScenario

Our newest author

We've added another author to the mix. Let me introduce you to Harley Jebens:

Harley Jebens started his career as a print journalist, then moved into the online space helping newspapers in Austin and Dallas, Texas create their online presences. He jumped from journalism to advertising in 1999, when he joined Pyro Brand Development and helped form that company's interactive discipline. He's been with Click Here since 2001, heading up the company’s content department, which deals with everything from customer research to information architecture to copy writing  viral marketing. And if you ask him, he can even tie all of those things together.

Look for Harley's articles starting soon! -Paul Herring

OPA Online Video Ad Study

Right now, we're seeing a boom in video content on the web because of broadband penetration. But just how engaging is video, and what does it mean for advertisers? Clickz has a great article on a recent study by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) focusing on video advertising. We could all guess what the results of this study were, but here are some key results.

60% of those surveyed had seen an online video ad
31% visited the advertisers site as a result

That's a high number for people visiting the advertisers site. But it gets better...

14% visited a store to look at the product in person
8% made a purchase after watching a video ad

I think this has a huge impact, particularly on things like video podcast sponsorship. We can't track it, of course, but the argument could be made that video podcast sponsorship encourages offline purchases as well. Read the whole Clickz article for yourself. - John Keehler

A Mother's Advice is as Relevant in The New World as it Was in The Old

This is Dick. Dick Mitchell to be exact. Dick is the Managing Principal at Click Here. He caught me in the hall today and shared an article he had written about brands and their identities. We, here at ChaosScenario had invited him to write something for our blog. He was a little concerned that it might not be relevant to our audience. I assured him he couldn't be more wrong. Dick's article offers advice that is as relevant to new media as it is to old. What he's written is just good marketing advice (and we're all about that). So check it out. - Pete Lerma

What’s a mother to do? -- By Dick Mitchell

I’ve been hanging around this business as a creative guy for nearly 30 years. And this isn’t the first time I’ve had my doubts about more than a few clients and agencies recognizing the value of a unique identity. My mother recognized that when she named me, uh, Dick.

Seven or eight years ago, a lot of companies weren’t interested in having a unique corporate identity that could withstand 30 years of design trends. They wanted a logo that could be good for, oh, say, 36 months. By then they’d take the business public, get rich and be out of there before shareholders and new management found out that they owned a mutt.

Experimenting with mobile marketing

"New media" marketers need to not only be aware of the best methods to advertise, but also what's coming next.  I believe now is the time to begin experimenting with mobile advertising, especially.  According to a recent report from eMarketer, I'm in good company. Experimenting in mobile advertising tied with video for the top spot in a recent survey by MarketingSherpa conducted at adTech. It's a small audience, however, the potential is huge:

"With 2 billion mobile subscribers around the world, 20% annual subscriber growth, new networks capable of distributing video, improving handset capabilities, and rapid turnover of the handsets themselves, mobile phones may become the most pervasive devices able to access video content on a global basis." from David Wiser in a Magna Global report.

The real opportunity may lie in video content delivered on a cell phone. Video is still the best method many advertisers have to get their message across. Ultimately, carriers will depend on advertising to reduce the cost they currently charge for delivering video content. There is no way that the current subscription prices they can charge will last. Carriers need to sell new phones and new services and I believe they'll soon look to advertisers as a way to reduce the cost to consumers. - Paul Herring

Absolut: A tired campaign stays fresh online

Having started around 1980 the Absolut campaign is one of the longest running ad campaigns in history (according to its Wikipedia entry). With a campaign based on wrapping its brand around icons from pop culture, art, music etc. its durability is guaranteed as long as western culture is alive and kicking. But that doesn't mean it can't go stale which, in my opinion, is exactly what's happened to the campaign's offline executions. Another print ad with another icon shaped by the same vodka bottle. After this much time the formula has lost it's punch. That's not the case online. With www.absolutkravitz.com Absolut goes beyond wrapping its brand/bottle around the image of an icon (Lenny Kravitz as an icon might be debatable, but I think it's fair to say he is). In this site, we get something you can't get in a single page ad: Entertainment depth.

Absolut had Lenny Kravitz put together a track for them and then they brought in a pretty hefty roster of DJ/music producers to remix his track. With spectacular visuals, some great music, interviews and videos this site does what online does best: turn campaigns into pure entertainment. The Absolut print ads might provide free wall art for college kids who don't know any better, but those prints don't sing, don't dance, and they certainly can't rock out. This Absolut Kravitz site along with just about every other Absolut online campaign all do exactly that. I find that professionally inspiring. And so should you (unless you’re a doctor or something).

I sure hope this approach moves bottles off shelves since I dig this kind of work and would like to see more of it (and do some brand entertainment myself). But what do you think? Is this sort of brand immersion good for business? Or just a waste of money?   

Like it or not, email still number one

In terms of internet marketing, email  gets treated with disdain and suspicion. Marketers don't want to be accused of being a "spammer" and email is seen as one of those marketing techniques where you don't get the accolades for outstanding creative. Like it or not, however, according to a recent survey, email is still the most effective tool for Internet marketing. Take a look at these stats from a Marketing Vox article:

"40 percent say email earns the highest ROI, followed by search (28 percent) and direct mail (18 percent)."

The best (or worse) part of this:

"Some 35 percent do not set clear success metrics."

(Stats via Marketing Profs, premium article)

Why would you run any type of marketing campaign without measuring results? Like any marketing program, you have to understand the program purpose and then determine how to measure, test and improve it. Email is as or more measurable as any online advertising campaigns, and, better yet, you know the metrics down to the individual allowing you to segment, present offers and even customize creative all based on their profile and behavior. Don't want to go to all that work? Then why not just test different types of subject lines? To just run an email campaign without any type of measurement let alone testing, that's just plain lazy. - Paul Herring

Generation Wireless: Teenagers with cellphones

When I was a teenager, my house had one phone number.  And the phone I used was definitely not wireless.  In those days, a 20 foot long cord attached to the phone was as wireless as you could get.

Now, 57% of all US teens (age 13-17) have a cellphone and multiple phone numbers per household is the norm.  If we look at the 16 to 17 year old teens cellphone usage it increases to 68%.  Wow, that number is staggering to me.

Although the teens haven’t hit the 80% cellphone penetration of adults 18+, they have a higher propensity to access news and information as well as to text message, play games and take photos than the adults.  For example, just over 15% of teens accessed entertainment news on their cellphones compared to just over 5% for the total population.  A little over 11% of teens searched the web on their cellphones compared to only 5% of the total population.

The average monthly cellphone expense for teens is $57 using almost 800 minutes. That’s closing in on 30 minutes per day.  Teens love their cellphones and use them for more than just talking to other teens.

I’ve read a lot of predictions that say mobile phone advertising is going to explode this year.  Based on the research I’ve done, I can start to see the progress.  Most mobile devices (90%) are internet enabled giving consumers the access to content that could contain advertising.  In a recent study, 20% of mobile phone users said they would be receptive to some type of advertising. And we are seeing more and more content sources (e.g. news services and television) becoming available.  The question is will the coveted target of Adults 25-54 be the ones that turn to their mobile phones for content and therefore giving us possible mobile advertising opportunities?  Or will we have to wait for the wireless generation to grow up?

However it ends up playing out, looking down the road, there is no doubt in my mind that cellphones will continue to play an important part in the generation wireless lives making mobile advertising a viable alternative to reach them. –Cort Gorman

PayPal Launches Mobile Product

I can't stress enough the importance of PayPal's announcement of a mobile product. You can check out the details on the PayPal site (login required). PayPal users will now be able to send and receive money via mobile devices, as well as make purchases.

Any conversation about mobile commerce has been focused outside of the United States. It's been all about Europe and Asia, rather than in the states. This PayPal product could go a long way towards encouraging mobile commerce in the US. But it will have a much larger impact. PayPal has 96.2 million members worldwide, in 55 countries.

Of course, PayPal making this announcement isn't enough. Just because you can buy stuff with your mobile phone doesn't mean that you actually have anything to buy. Companies must decide that it's worth it to try out this new purchasing channel. I hope they will - John Keehler

MySpace gets traffic but not advertisers

   MySpace continues to be one of the most visited sites on the internet. The site has 60 million members and grew 8 million in the last few months alone. However, advertisers are avoiding it like the plague. Why?  According to the CEO of Pepsi, "we're being cautious because there's a blurring between advertising and content, and the content does rub off on your brand." (via an article in Media Post) It's not difficult to find offensive material within a few minutes of browsing the site. In addition, there has been a lot of press coverage of people using the site to take find and exploit kids. Other sites like Friendster at least attempt to assure your identity by only allowing university or school email addresses, but even that is not enough these days. Until MySpace, Friendster and the like start to put more controls in place, not only will advertisers shy away, these sites could be in danger of some pretty severe legal action.

Jaffe Juice comments on this issues as well. - Paul Herring

March Madness On Demand

In my ClickZ article this week, I explore CBS SportsLine's March Madness on demand. I wrote about CBS SportsLine's first March Madness on demand a couple of years ago. They've made a number of changes to the format. And while I think it's great, there is room to improve. The fanaticism around March Madness opens the doors to so many possibilities. And I feel like CBS is doing just enough to endear themselves to fans, but not enough to create any fanaticism about CBS SportsLine. I've talked with a few college basketball fans and they're all pretty happy with the online coverage. I just can't help but think that they could be doing so much more and getting credit for starting an on demand revolution...Viva la revolucion! Anyway, check it out. Let us know what you think. - Pete Lerma