ChaosScenario

Shining Light in the World of Advertising

Tanya Pinto, an account service person at The Richards Group, recently started a charity to help children in Calcutta. Last year Tanya traveled to India to volunteer at Mother Teresa's orphanage. She was so moved by her experience that she chose to start Baal Dan (in Hindi, Baal means Child, Dan means Donation). Here's why she formed the organization, "Last year, a friend gave me $50 to buy the kids in the orphanage candy. Did you know that $1 = 43 rupees? When I got to India, I realized this was over 2000 rupees! After some bargaining at the local markets, here's what I got with that $50: 300 pairs of children's underwear, 100 notebooks, 100 pencils, 2 bags of candy. When I emailed my friend and told him all the things I bought with his $50, and how in a small way he helped 300 children, he said, 'If I had known how $50 could help so many children, I would have given you a lot more money.' That's why I started Baal Dan." So check it out. Donate. Spread the word. - Pete Lerma

Mobile Couponing

In my latest ClickZ article, I discuss the latest in couponing on mobile phones. I recently ran across a company called Cellfire who has just gone nationwide with the Cingular Wireless network. They have a interesting mobile application that aggregates discounts based on your zip code. They have a good list of clients including: Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Hollywood Video, Bath & Body Works, and 1-800-flowers.com. I decided to try it out myself by taking the Hollywood Video discount to my local store to see how it worked. I wondered if I'd be the first person, in that store to present my mobile phone to the cashier as a way to earn a discount. Check out the article and see what happened. - Pete Lerma

A Simply Perfect Launch

In my latest ClickZ article, I explain the Patron Simply Perfect campaign. The campaign centers on the idea that perfection in most cases is debatable. However, in the case of Patron, it's Simply Perfect. So, interactive work came to be the hub of the campaign - the place where the campaign and our audience meet. There are many aspects to the campaign, from television, print, online and the website. We took great care to make sure that all of the ads were contextually targeted. For example, if you're reading Sports Illustrated, either in print or online,our ad might read, "Russian models. Brazilian models. Some perfection is debatable, some is not. Patron, simply perfect." As such, we invite our audience to participate in the debates on a variety of topics. Check it out, drink some Patron and let me know what you think. - Pete Lerma

The Long and Winding

In my latest ClickZ article, I discuss a presentation I recently attended by Yahoo! as part of their Summit Series. They presented some research they conducted in conjunction with OMD about how people research and buy online and offline. They concluded that there are different patterns people exhibit: short, winding, long & long and winding. Short shopping patterns are associated with things like consumer packaged goods and long and winding patterns are associated with automotive purchases. The patterns often include research online, offline, consulting with friends and family as well as consumer reviews on websites. It's interesting research. Check it out here and let me know what you think. - Pete Lerma

Participating in the Conversation

In my latest article for ClickZ, I talk about the different types of feedback I get from readers. Sometimes it's supportive, sometimes it's not and a lot of times it's promotional. People working in emerging categories often see that I've written about their category and they want me to know about their company. So it occurred to me that it might be useful to do a "guide to contacting content creators." The recommendations aren't specific to contacting ClickZ authors or more traditional journalists. In fact, I think they're good tips on commenting on blogs as well. In general it's about participating in the conversation. - Pete Lerma

Podcasting Sponsorship for Travelocity

In my latest article on ClickZ, I talk about our recent efforts to help Travelocity explore the world of podcasting. The article ran on Tuesday of this week, and I've received a ton of feedback about it from readers. Podcasting is growing quickly as a marketing platform and people are eager to learn how it works. As I point out in the article, "how it works" is relatively undefined. With the exception of a few networks which are aggregating podcasts and offering some standardization, it's really something you have to negotiate on a case by case. Either way, we're really excited about podcasting as a platform. Check out the article here. - Pete Lerma

Ask A Ninja

Duh! Another Study Validates The Internet

Duh! It seems that study after study is stating the obvious when it comes to the importance the Internet is playing in the lives of consumers. I'm not angry, just a little mistified that it has taken this long and this many studies to validate its importance. The latest report is from Friedman-Swift Associates, an automotive marketing research company. Adweek has an article about the findings of a survey of 12,270 new-car customers in 2005. Basically, what they're saying is that 30% of new car buyers are visiting dealers web sites, which is up from 17% in 2001. As a result, dealers are moving their advertising budgets online and away from newspapers.

I had an opportunity to speak recently to a group of college students about the impact of the Internet on American Society. My research and my conversation with them made me realize that we take the Internet for granted in our daily lives. This generation has grown up with computers and the Internet. They don't know a life without the Internet. They do know a life without newspapers. Rock on! - Pete Lerma

Welcome to The Revolution?...Well, Sort Of.

In my latest ClickZ article, I kind of rant about ABC's approach to making four of their most popular shows available, for free, online. I have to applaud them for taking the step. But I can't give them a standing ovation because of the tentative nature of their approach. First, they're calling it an experiment, suggesting that it may not be something they're committed to. They're making the content available on a limited time basis. They're not allowing downloads of the material. On and on...They have a chance to step out there and make something really cool happen with alternative distribution of television content. Insteady they're doing something that's just, okay. Anyway, check out the article and let me know what you think. - Pete Lerma

A Life Altering Decision

Life altering?...yes. Earth shattering?...perhaps. I'm talking about making a career move from offline marketing to online marketing. For me, it's been one of the greatest things to happen in my professional life. I made that move almost 8 years ago. But with the recent resurgence of interactive marketing, there are a lot more people making or considering moves to interactive from more traditional roles. I thought it might be interesting to hear what someone who recently made the transition had to say. I sat down for a conversation with Cort Gorman, Group Media Director for Click Here and contributing author to ChaosScenario. Cort recently came over from The Richards Group where he'd spent 17 years leading traditional media efforts for some of the world's biggest brands. Check out the interview and let us know what you think. - Pete Lerma

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.

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

Big Ideas at SXSW

I was honored to have been invited to participate on a panel at the South by Southwest interactive festival in Austin, TX. The topic I was asked to address was: "Selling Big Ideas To Big Clients." Also on the panel were: Todd Connelley of TM, moderating, Jamie Thomas of Winnercomm and Jeff Benjamin of Crispin Porter Bogusky. We all gave our opinions of what defines a big idea and we talked about what it takes to sell big ideas. From my standpoint, big ideas are ideas that - first and foremost meet the client's objectives and do so in a unique, groundbreaking way. It can be innovative in a number of ways. It can be innovative in terms of creativity, technology and even in the changing the way a brand allows itself to be perceived. If you can get a client to stretch beyond their comfort zone, you may have a big idea on your hands. As far as selling big ideas, I really feel like if you can tie the above to consumer insights, clients are infinitely more likely to buy into the idea. As part of the presentation, I included a video I created where I asked several people around the office to answer those same two questions. Check it out and let us know what you think.  - Pete Lerma

 

Pimpin' Pork on ClickZ

Paul recently blogged about Click Here's launch of a new online campaign for The National Pork Board...you know, "The Other White Meat." Anyway, as I have a venue on which to share my opinions on great interactive marketing, I chose to use that venue, ClickZ, to pimp our latest work for the brand. Take a look at my latest ClickZ article when you get a chance. I talk about the approach we took to developing the creative. And I talk about  some unexpected, yet strategic, media placements. All in all, I think it's a big idea. Check out the work and let me know if you agree. Oh, and I want to thank Jason Fincannon, Jason Sutterfield, Eric Patrick and Chris Long from my agency, Click Here for their hard work on "The Other White Meat". - Pete Lerma

Come Join Us

There comes a time in your life...as an agency, when growth can be painful. The interactive marketing industry is growing. The agency I lead, Click Here, is enjoying an enormous amount of growth. As I was thinking, "What should I blog about?" it occurred to me that bloggers often talk about things that are top of mind. Well, at the moment, this human capital is what occupies my "everyday." We're looking for a few really good people, and I mean really good. Click Here is the interactive division of The Richards Group. We've built a strong reputation working with brands like: Atlantis, Hyundai, The Home Depot and Travelocity. We're a full service interactive marketing firm, which means we do websites, online advertising, search marketing, viral, etc. We have close to 60 people in our group. And currently, we need to add an interactive media supervisor, an account supervisor, an interactive project manager and a data analyst for our online advertising campaigns. If you have advertising agency experience, think you're qualified or know someone who is, let me know at our ChaosScenario emails address, chaosscenario@yahoo.com. I'm sorry for the shameless plug - but if you blog what you think about, I guess it's appropriate...Who knows, you could be the next Click Here team member and author for ChaosScenario. - Pete Lerma

Oprah, I'm So Disappointed

John Keehler and I were having a debate the other day about the gender make up of the podcasting audience. I told John that when Oprah launched a podcast, the female audience for podcasts would skyrocket. Well, it looks like that may never happen now. Oprah has signed a 3-year, $55 million contract with XM Satellite Radio. Oprah and Friends will launch in September of 2006 with a variety of original audio programming from Harpo Radio, Inc. My hope is that there still may be a chance to do something podcast related. Oprah, if you're reading, "Call me, we'll go podcasting." - Pete Lerma 

Car Buyers: "TV? We Don't Need No Stinkin' TV"

Well, that may not be how all car buyers feel. However, as I point out in my latest ClickZ column, a recent study by the Polk Center for Automotive Studies, indicates that first time car buyers are primarily influenced by the Internet and see other media as nearly obsolete. I think this is really important validation of our medium. Of course, the smart car manufacturers and dealers are already seizing the opportunity by leveraging interactive platforms. Building relationships with car owners needs to start with first time car buyers. - Pete Lerma

Boys, Girls and Podcasts

Recently, Nielsen/NetRatings released a report about iTunes users. Some of their findings were interesting, some were predictable and some were silly. John Keehler, a ChaosScenario author, posted his thoughts on his other blog RandomCulture. John and I have been debating one reporting specifically. Nielsen reports that iTunes users are 54% male and 46% female. And while I can see that number being accurate, they don't address podcast downloadership/listenership specifically. John believes the split for podcast listening is about even. In fact, John found a Pew Internet and American Life  study from April of 2005 which suggested that men and women were "equally likely to have downloaded podcasts." I find that hard to believe. It seems to me that even though iTunes has eliminated the technology barrier to downloading podcasts, there's still a technology adoption curve in which women typically follow men. I then went to the iTunes music store to see what the top 25 podcasts were, hoping to see a trend that would indicate a gender split but it didn't seem definitive. What do you think? - Pete Lerma

The iTunes Halo Effect

This is huge...According to TVWeek, television networks are beginning to see audience growth as a result of making their programming available through iTunes. The Office had its biggest rating yet. And NBC is attributing that new audience to iTunes. "The iTunes offering is bringing new audiences to the show that would not otherwise have watched, said Frederick Huntsberry, president of NBCU Television Distribution. Consumers have choices, and we are not reaching all consumers with one technology." And it seems that NBC isn't the only one seeing the potential in making their content available on new platforms. ABC is seeing growth in their audience for Lost and Desperate Housewives. Additionally, Adweek reports that MTV Networks is releasing programming from MTV, MTV2, Comedy Central Nickelodeon and the N today on iTunes. Talk about a revolution! Hang on, it's going to be a wild ride.

- Pete Lerma

Predictions for 2006: Pete Lerma

I love predictions. December and January every year you see tons of them. In this case, I agree with John that these are generally predictable predictions. The great thing is they all point to it being a great time to be in the interactive marketing industry. The one prediction I will comment on is the  percent of advertising which will go to online. eMarketer predicts that it will surpass 5% of all advertising spending in 2006. And they've compiled that number by analyzing data from the IAB, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Universal McCann. There are still plenty of advertisers who don't spend any money online. So I want to know, of the people who include online, what percentage of your budget is dedicated to online?

-Pete Lerma

MSN's Plan to Win the Search Game

I sat through an MSN presentation the other night where they discussed the new MSN Search. As you can imagine, the room was full of people asking themselves, "How is MSN going to beat Google? I wondered the same thing. It appears that their approach to winning the search game goes beyond search and encompasses the Microsoft operating system, Windows Live (which by the way is encouraging open source application development and integration - check it out), integrating disparate environments such as search, IM, email, mobile. It looks like they believe that kind of integration will make people loyal to Microsoft and MSN. Keep an eye on this.  - Pete Lerma

The Cookie Scenario

Once again, the "cookie deletion" issue is brought to the attention of on-line marketers. Internet users are deleting their cookies because they're afraid of spyware. And they're deleting them in alarming numbers. JupiterResearch has published a second report on consumers using spyware applications -- subsequently deleting cookies from their machines. This issue has the potential to undermine on-line advertising's ability to track campaign performance. I had an opportunity to talk with Eric Peterson, the analyst on the topic for Jupiter. Read what Eric had to say in my ClickZ article. - Pete Lerma

The Authors

Here are the authors, to date, of the ChaosScenario.

Pete Lerma
Pete's career began in offline, working on accounts like Coca-Cola and Subway for six years. He's spent the last eight years with Click Here, the on-line unit of The Richards Group, where he leads the interactive efforts for brands like Hyundai, Nortel and Travelocity. He is on the board of the DFW Interactive Marketing Association and is a regular contributor to ClickZ.

John Keehler
John spent the last 8 years becoming an interactive “jack of all trades.” He specializes in emerging technologies and alternative marketing such as blogging, viral marketing and pod-casting. Since joining Click Here, he’s worked closely with clients such as Hyundai, The Home Depot, Nokia and Nortel. John is also the author of Random Culture, a blog about on-line marketing trends.

Paul Herring
Paul spent eight years on developing Internet strategies for clients like 3M, Daimler Chrysler, Halliburton and Allstate. He's worked in areas of marketing from site builds to ads to emails, in roles from project manager to client partner to strategist. He joined Click Here, the on-line unit of The Richards Group working for clients such as Travelocity, Hyundai, Atlantis and Zales.

Brian Linder
After earning degrees in English and Interactive Design, Brian logged two years building and selling his own web design shop and is now in his 6th year as an art director with Click Here. His concepts have solved problems for phones, banks, refrigerators, video games, food, travel, cars, technology, life insurance, apparel, universities and the list could go on. His work has been published in Graphis and received recognition from Ad TEch, The One Show, DFWIMA and IMedia.