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Marketing Trends
Below provides a summary of the enclosed articles and reports containing overall trends in online marketing as well as online trends by target (moms, college students and teens) - a market analysis done internally at T360
Online Marketing: Overall Trends
Perhaps the biggest thing happening in online marketing is its strong growth. In 2006, Web ad spending expanded 30 percent and it is expected to grow 20 percent in 2007 according to eMarketer as quoted by Adweek.
More brands are finding ad space in Internet Alternate Reality Games (ARG) space.
o For real-life companies from Warner Bros. to Adidas to Intel seeking to brand themselves as hip and forward-thinking, virtual community Second Life has quickly become a trendy marketing and advertising outlet. Opening virtual offices or shops, selling and market-testing digital replicas of products, and creating 3D online personas or ``avatars'' in Second Life are becoming items on the to-do lists of those eager to tap into the nascent market. The three-year-old Web-based world has more than one million ``residents'' who spent $9 million in October on virtual land, products, and services. And while advertising's traditional outlets are losing eyeballs, so far this year the population of Second Life has increased 995% -- a growing potential consumer audience for marketing messages (“Second Life Lessons; You may have heard the hype about popular 3D online universe Second Life, but setting up shop there presents unique challenges,” BusinessWeek, November 27, 2006).
Internet marketing challenges the FTC in its attempt to police advertisers and protect consumers from deceptive advertising practices and messages.
o As ads and marketing messages spread to a growing number of devices and with increased personalization, challenges lie ahead for authorities charged with policing deceptive schemes, a Federal Trade Commission official said..
o Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch predicted that the next decade will bring concerns the FTC could never have foreseen in the early 1970s, when the agency made it a top priority to clamp down on pitches laced with false or unsubstantiated claims.
o Representatives from advertising and marketing firms expressed agreement on one thing: Companies will be seeking increasingly sophisticated ways of getting their messages across, and techniques like behavioral targeting will grow in sophistication.
o Advocates of behavioral targeting say the technique enables advertisers and marketers to use analysis of "anonymous" Web-browsing behavior to more precisely tailor messages to specific audiences.
o "For example, if you buy a car, in the (following) 10 days, you might receive a lot of automotive ads," said Dave Morgan, founder and chairman of Tacoda, a New York-based company that specializes in profiling Web users so that online companies can theoretically target ads more efficiently.
o But skeptics fear that the ability for companies to compile detailed profiles of consumers, regardless of whether they contain what would traditionally be considered "personally identifiable information," presents privacy concerns (“FTC: Policing online ads is 'daunting task'; Agency official says the "growing media universe" will make it harder than ever to play watchdog to deceptive schemes,” CNET News.com, November 7, 2006).
o Some retailers and manufacturers are using online consumer education as a sales tool.
o In their never-ending quest to engage customers and drive sales, retailers are exploiting a new tool - online education. Online education leverages the Internet to target and deliver voluminous manufacturers' marketing and product information at the consumer's behest. Forrester Research has reported that about three of every four online shoppers today conduct product research on retail Web sites, and nearly 70% of all shoppers use retail Web sites for research before descending on stores.
§ A by Next Century Media Study shows that consumers who use online research and education are 25 times more likely to buy when compared with media advertising and fives times more likely to buy when compared with direct marketing (“Continuing Education,” Stores, October 1, 2006).
o Some companies are using their web sites to connect in new ways with the consumer. Coke is a prime example.
o When Coca-Cola relaunched Coke.com on July 9, it marked a shift away from the cola giant using its site as a corporate placeholder in favor of building an interactive community for consumers. Gone was the corporate jargon and links to annual reports. Instead, visitors found a colorful call-to-action titled "The Coke Show.” Here consumers were asked to upload videos of themselves, a la YouTube.com, based on the challenge: "If you could bottle the essence of you and share it with the world, what story would it tell?"
Tim Kopp, Coke's vp-global interactive marketing, discussed the radical shift in Coke's online strategy with Brandweek senior editor Kenneth Hein.
What we're really trying to do is reinvent consumer connections. One of the things we know we need to have is a more centralized, more potent global platform to get our message out on a global basis. What the Internet, mobile devices and other technology-enabled devices allow us to do is really move from a passive 30-second monologue into a deeper, richer dialogue with the consumer.
I think the more proactive question for the future is: What's a television? There will be a day when you'll have a big screen in your living room and it will have an IP address. It's going to be a hybrid of the PC and the television (“Q+A: Coke's Web Formula Is a Work in Progress,” Brandweek, September 5, 2006).
o Marketers that create engaging ad content can count on consumers to pass it along electronically to friends and family
o A study out this week by interactive marketing agency Sharpe Partners shows that a strong 89% of adult Internet users in the U.S. share content with others via e-mail. And while jokes and cartoons make up 88% of the forwarded material, a full 24% of business and personal finance information is also shared.
“We knew a lot of people were sharing content, but even we didn't expect it to be so pervasive,” Kathy Sharpe, CEO of Sharpe Partners, said in a statement. “The real challenge for interactive marketing agencies is developing content that these people will want to consistently share with a wide, yet focused circle of acquaintances” (“Study: Viral Marketing Gaining in Popularity,” Brandweek, January 26, 2006).
Online Marketing Trends: Moms
o In his workshop, Moms 2.0: Mothers Online, David Enberg, VP Sales, Kaboose Inc., explains how to connect with 32 million mothers online today. Enberg says, "Moms are taking advantage of all the web has to offer because it makes it easier to do what they always have done -- engage with other moms and plan their family life (“M2Moms Delivers Marketing Solutions: Successful Brands Reveal How They Build Business with Moms,” PR Newswire (U.S.), 28 September 2006).
o A press release from Kaboose.com (http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=194908&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=918763&highlight ) notes Looking at the online habits of moms, the study reveals that nearly 80% of Kaboose moms say the Internet has changed the way they get information for their family. The study also examined the types of information moms seek and the types of activities in which they engage online to enhance their families' lives. Nearly 80% of Kaboose moms are looking for educational activities for their children online as well as seeking expert advice for their family. Kaboose will provide attendees of the conference with further valuable insight into how the Internet can be used most effectively to reach women in the targeted demographic
o How marketers are tuning in to moms:
Digital ads. Unilever hair-care brand Suave has a big digital component in its first new marketing effort in three years, including Web ads and a re- vamped Suave.com. The message: "Mommy, you look pretty today."
The Web site has activity sheets to print out to occupy kids while their moms shower and blow-dry their hair. There is also a pledge to sign and pass to others that promises, "I will say yes to . . . wearing sexy two-seater hair to drive car pool." Also there is "Suave-doku," a beauty icon version of the popular "Sudoku" numbers puzzles.
Web communities. Moms now will have their own versions of social networking site MySpace.com. Newbaby.com launches June 15. The site Clubmom.com, which launched in 1999 and has 2 million users, added a networking feature for moms to create profiles and talk to other moms. Executives from advertisers such as Hewlett-Packard say they are eager to have a presence there.
Branded Web networks. McDonald's recently created a global advisory council of several high-profile moms. Among their responsibilities: to help the world's biggest restaurant chain create a mommy networking site scheduled to launch later this year attached to McDonalds.com. Tentatively called McMoms, it will include blogs and Web chats (“Online advertisers set their sites on mom,” Chicago Sun-Times, 24 May 2006).
M2Moms presenting sponsor Parenting magazine found in their 2004 survey, "What Really Matters to Mom," that today's mother doesn't fit the stereotype many marketers use when crafting marketing communications. Parenting found most modern moms don't feel trapped as servants to their families or unable to juggle the demands of their lives. Cheryl Wilbur, Director of Research and Brand Development for Parenting magazine explains, "We found that 95% of MomConnection members -- our online panel of moms -- characterize their daily life in positive and energetic terms. Over 40% say they've either got it under control or they at least enjoy most days, even with the chaos. Over 50% claim they could use more help. At Parenting, we show marketers how to position themselves as purveyors of that help with ideas and language that resonate best with moms."
The daytime television formula for marketers may be outdated as 72% of today's moms are employed and state they spend more time on the internet than watching TV. A staggering 95% said they are online at least once daily.
"It's no secret that moms do their research online, whether for purchases or family healthcare," says Bonnie Ulman, President of The Haystack Group and co-author of Trillion Dollar Moms: Marketing to a New Generation of Mothers. "The virtual world is also a place where moms are making important connections with other mothers. Although these women may never meet personally, they have tremendous influence over product trial, brand preference and purchasing decisions." Bonnie will discuss this topic in her M2Moms session "Word of Mom: A Marketer's Secret Weapon" (“Today's Mom Has Changed -- Most Marketing Has Not...95% Online,” PR Newswire (U.S.), 25 July 2005).
ClubMom, a company previously focused on offline rewards programs for mothers, will introduce an online social networking service next week, after finding quick success earlier this year with a blogging site of sorts. JotSpot, a site started by the founders of Excite.com, recently introduced a free Web site-building service aimed largely at mothers. And earlier this year, LillianVernon.com, the housewares site, spun off Lilly's Kids, a site marketed to mothers who want to buy children's gifts.
''It's a good time to reach moms, but it's not a good time to pretend to be their friend,'' said Clay Shirky, an Internet analyst and adviser to MeetUp Inc., a social networking business with a Web site that helps groups organize offline events. ''Marketers often tell themselves that moms want a relationship with them, when in fact all moms want to do is buy their products.''
Mr. Shirky said he first became aware of the trend at a recent advisory board meeting at MeetUp, when executives reported that stay-at-home mothers composed the most active group on the Web site. The company said that more than 50,000 mothers had joined groups through the site since its inception. ''We all just sat bolt upright,'' Mr. Shirky said.
Groups of stay-at-home mothers are especially active, with nearly 34,000 members. Many of those are in sprawling cities like
''They're using the Internet to reconstitute the social capital that would come from physical interaction in a dense urban environment,'' Mr. Shirky said. ''These are busy, busy people who don't adopt any technology unless it makes their lives materially better in the short term.''
Many industry executives said the growing proportion of Internet users with high-speed connections at home, currently 69 percent according to Nielsen/NetRatings, had done much to connect mothers more firmly to the Internet than in the past. But Joe Kraus, chief executive of JotSpot, based in
Mr. Kraus said that, like a car company that talked about horsepower no matter who it was advertising to,
''In targeting this to moms, we focused on the benefits to the family exclusively,'' Mr. Kraus said. ''We never mentioned the technology used to collaborate. Even using the word 'collaborate' was forbidden. It's just a little nerdy'' (“'M' Is for the Many Ways Marketers Court Her,” The New York Times, 8 May 2006).
Now, more marketers are keying in on the pull online gaming has for kids and for women, who pass time on computers with more low- key games.
Sara Lee's advertising in "The Flushed Away Underground Adventure," which launched Thursday, is an attempt to reach more moms and promote the Sara Lee Food & Beverage unit, said Peter Reiner, vice president of Sara Lee brands. The game is based on the DreamWorks flick "Flushed Away" that hits theaters Nov. 3 and is the story of an uptown pet mouse who is flushed into a sewer world.
About 80 percent of mothers and fathers went online in 2005, compared with 60 percent of childless men and women, said Kristin Mehta, a spokeswoman for Sara Lee.
"Women are the foundation of the online gaming market," she said. "We know that moms are spending a lot of time online and managing their households online and playing games as a release."
A casual game segment -- including Tetris and card games like Free Cell -- appeals to women over age 35, said Alexis Madrigal, research analyst for DFC Intelligence, a game industry research firm (“Sara Lee's got game: Moms the target of online video marketing venture,” Chicago Sun-Times, 11 October 2006).
Online Marketing Trends: College Students
Online companies regard college campuses as laboratories for future technology and trends. Some offer college students opportunities to compete with technical and content ideas. Some advertisers have picked up this approach. Jet Blue shows how campus content and brand ambassadors can be used together.
- To promote a new JetBlue contest, the agency has unleashed brand ambassadors to host events, develop a microsite and reach out to budding filmmakers (via online community outreach) who will submit videos about "why they love" the airline, as Evans put it. Winners will be announced Jan. 31.
Given JetBlue's focus on the college market, "having these folks on the ground in the thick of it allows us to talk to students in ways that resonate with them," said Tracy Sandford, director of advertising and promotions at JetBlue. Along with the immediacy of the message delivery, she stressed the evangelical fervor of the reps, including those who have allegedly rebuffed the advances of rival airlines out of loyalty to JetBlue (“RepNation Empowers Consumers to Build Buzz,” Brandweek, 4 December 2006).
A recent survey on how college students use the Internet provides a sense of what attracts their attention.
- Experience, Inc., the leading provider of career services to students and alumni, today announced the findings from its "2006 Media Perception" survey. Experience polled over 350 students and recent graduates from colleges and universities nationwide to measure their attitudes on content and advertising across a variety of mediums, including Internet, print and broadcast media.
Spending time online – interacting:
-- 62% view and download photos
-- 51% upload and share photos
-- 47% read articles posted on Web sites
-- 47% upload, share and view online videos
-- 34% read blogs
-- 25% create or listen to podcasts
-- 24% participate in online bulletin boards, groups or chat rooms
-- 22% write blogs
Most widely-visited online media include:
-- Google
-- Yahoo!
-- MySpace
Source: “Sharing Photos and Writing Blogs: How College Students Are Using the Internet; Experience, Inc.'S 2006 Media Perception Survey Reveals College Students' Attitudes toward Media, Content And Advertising,” Business Wire, 19 July 2006.
MySpace gets competition form a second social networking site on campuses. FaceBook has more than 12 million users. Its growth is slowing because, some say, it already has all college students as members.
- Soon to enter its fourth year, Facebook has matured into a warehouse of school information, a big-time player in campus activism, and a mirror of university life - good and bad. More than 12 million users are signed up.
School officials, most of whom were either dismissive or unaware of the phenomenon, are now awake to it. They hold Facebook-themed conferences. They sign up themselves. They monitor students. And they worry about information in student profiles, especially after hearing that employers routinely check them.
What do students do on Facebook? A lot.
Students still "friend" others in their school or regional networks, exchange messages and pictures (Facebook claims to be the largest photo-sharing website), check class schedules, or post diary notes.
Students running for campus office campaign on Facebook, as do actual politicians. Any candidate paying attention to youth was on Facebook for the November elections. Their staffs target students based on the political preferences they list.
Facebook also hosts the bad: sexual and racial harassment, hazing, extortion, and threats. School officials, even campus police, use the site to investigate.
Facebook seems to fly in the face of the short life expectancy of Internet phenomena. It's not growing at the same pace it did - but only because almost every student in the
Campus newspaper web sites also command attention from college students. Campuses newspapers are thriving in print as well.
Spurred by research indicating that about 76 percent of the United States' 6 million full-time college undergraduates read their campus papers at least occasionally, big corporations and advertisers are latching on to student-run publications.
One of the most notable examples of the trend occurred in late summer, when a subsidiary of MTV, one of the country's best-known youth brands and part of the Viacom entertainment empire, bought College Publisher, a company that runs Web sites for about 450 college papers.
"There's no more local paper than a campus paper," said Dina Pradel, general manager of Y2M, which founded College Publisher in 1999.
The health of campus papers is due also, in part, to the explosive growth of the Internet and of Web-based advertising, much of it aimed at the young. About 600 campus papers publish online editions, and advertisers have been quick to exploit their potential. Many campus newspaper Web sites carry ads from national retail chains and other big-ticket companies.
A recent survey by Student Monitor, which tracks the buying habits, concerns and activities of students nationwide, showed that, although students watch an average of 10 hours of television a week, they spend 15 hours a week online.
Thirty-eight percent of students regularly read an online edition of their campus paper, and they spend an average of 19 minutes doing so (“College-paper readers tantalize advertisers As big urban papers struggle to lure young subscribers, campus publications do well,” Orlando Sentinel, 23 November 2006).
Games continue to be popular campus online activities. Careerbuilder has found success on campus with its online game based marketing. Student play and share the game with others.
Hot off the success of its Monk-e-Mail Web site, online job placement company Careerbuilder.com is seeking another viral hit with "Poo, peel, pound." This time, college kids are encouraged to have the firm's monkey mascots battle via a prehistoric version of the rock, paper, scissors game.
Part of its Cbcampus.com property (focused on students and recent graduates), Poopeelpound.com, which went live this month, allows players to throw poo, a peel or pound the opponent. It will be supported with a mobile marketing tour, ads in student newspapers and online efforts.
The game plays off the current resurgence of the classic "rock, paper, scissors" game. The Rock Paper Scissors League,
Building off that buzz, Swivel Media,
"Our objective was simple: Provide a great online experience, and have our audience pass along the game so that more people become aware of the Cbcampus.com site [which launched in the second quarter]," said Swivel Media president Erik Hauser (“STRATEGY; Strategy: Careerbuilder Still Serious About Monkey Business; Web site targets college-age demo with unique game,” Brandweek, 27 November 2006).
Online Marketing Trends: Teens
The teen market is arguably the most challenging market advertisers face. Teens are mercurial, changing fads and behaviors quickly, as they search for actions and icons that distinguish them from their parents and other age groups. Recently, the Internet has become the place where they hang out, but the Internet is a large virtual world and getting your message to a place where they still are can be challenging.
Enclosed are a number of recent articles that note aspects of teen online behavior or describe attempts to reach them online. We have enclosed a set of PDFs from the Pew Internet Project (PIP) on teens and the Internet, the growing ways in which they access the Internet and what they do there.
Where the Teens Are
- More than one third of teens age 13-18 (36%) have online friends they have never met in person, while only 8% of tweens age 8-12 say the same, according to Harris Interactive and Alloy Marketing.
FAVORITE WAY TWEENS AND TEENS STAY
IN TOUCH WITH FRIENDS
age 8-12 age 13-18
In person 81% 53%
Instant message 2% 16%
Cellphone 3% 11%
E-mail 1% 4%
Text message 1% 4%
Landline phone 12% 8%
SOURCE: Alloy, Harris Interactive (“Teens go high-tech to talk with friends, tweens not so much.(CONNECTING WITH OTHERS)(ways to keep in touch with friends)(Statistical table),” Youth Markets Alert, 15 November 2006)
- According to Media Metrix, myYearbook.com is one of the top-five fastest growing Web sites on the Internet with more than 1.5 million teen and young adult users and is working to attract three million members by the end of the year. By offering a turn-key package of best-in-class video features that can be seamlessly integrated into any site, VideoEgg allows myYearbook.com to harness the emerging power of user generated content (“VideoEgg Partners with myYearbook.com to Provide Video Publishing Capabilities to More Than 1.5 Million Teens and Young Adults; VideoEgg's network includes top social networking sites, enabling advertisers to reach coveted audience within user-generated content,” PR Newswire (U.S.), 7 November 2006).
- Influential teen girls age 13-17 don't differ from normal girls in most online habits, such as viewing personal pages, playing online games or e-mail, but are much more likely to be attracted to online activities surrounding music, fashion or photos, according to Jupiter Research's "Reaching Elusive Audiences: Marketing to Cool Girls Online" (“Reaching the cool teenage girl crowd.(online habits)(Brief article),” Youth Markets Alert, 1 July 2006).
- As online communities like MySpace continue to grow, "engagement" has replaced "multitasking" as the new buzzword for reaching the elusive teen demographic (“Marketers focus on teen activity,” Hollywood Reporter, 14 July 2006)
Reaching Teens
The girls, dubbed the "flip squad," have been meeting every other week with executives from CondeNet, the digital division of Conde Nast, to give feedback on its plan to launch flip.com., a new Web site for teenage girls. The company doesn't pay the flip squad, but it has given them thank-you gifts, including iPod shuffles.
Like many teenage endeavors, flip is likely to have a hierarchy. The site will have online clubs -- including an animal-rights club and a writing club -- and some will accept a limited number of members. Users can comment on other girls' flip books. "The super-alpha girls who want to talk about Miu Mui[designer shoes] can do that," says Jamie Pallot, the editorial director of CondeNet. "And the nerdy ones can talk about," he pauses, looking to his colleagues for assistance. "What do the nerdy ones talk about?"
But flip faces challenges of its own, including distinguishing itself from MySpace, which also lets users post personal material on profile pages. MySpace had 5,719,000 girls 12 to 17 years old visit in November, Nielsen/NetRatings estimates. "The most significant difference to us is that the purpose of going to this site is not 'who I am' or 'what do I look like' but rather 'what do I make,"' says Ms. Chubb. "I don't think they'll quit MySpace, but they might tell people on their MySpace page to check out their flip book," she adds.
CondeNet stopped short of selling banner adspace on individual flip books. "It didn't feel right to us to do that to a girl's work," says Ms. Salomon. Instead, to introduce a flip book the site will use "interstitial" ads -- which pop up when visitors move from one part of the site to another. The site's themed channels of editorial content, such as "Entertainment" and "Style," will carry ads (“To Lure Teens to Its Latest Web Site, Conde Nast Turns to the 'Flip Squad' The Wall Street Journal, 19 December 2006)
*Go digital. Discounters Wal-Mart and Target made the Web central to teen marketing this year: Wal-Mart with a MySpace- inspired networking site, walmart.com/schoolyourway, and Target with target.com/backtoschool, where visitors can create characters.
"Media consumption for younger consumers is spent online," says Jon Swallen, TNS Media Intelligence senior vice president of research (“Retailers put ads where the teens are ; Marketers focus on websites, TV and inventory,” USA Today, 23 August 2006)
Wal-Mart has launched a teen-oriented quasi-social-networking site called ``The Hub'' but plans to censor content, notify parents when kids join and forbid users to e-mail one another. Critics say Wal-Mart just isn't cool enough for the site to catch on with kids. And you seem to agree: An overwhelming 86% of voters in an Advertising Age online poll said Wal-Mart's attempt to seem cool to kids is anything but cool.
What you say: 86% of voters said Wal-Mart's efforts are misguided, and that the retail chain just isn't hip enough to lure teens to a censored site that mimics certain aspects of social-networking sites. But 14% believe that with all the concern about internet safety, Wal-Mart's sanitized site has a shot (“Nice try, Wal-Mart, but you're just not that cool,” Advertising Age. 24 July 2006).
What Teens Say about Advertising
Two-thirds of 8-18-year-olds "dislike or strongly dislike" being asked by companies for personal information, such as e-mail address or their name, according to Harris Interactive.
Half of 8-18-year-olds (50%) dislike or strongly dislike cellphone ads. Four out of 10 (41%) don't like companies having someone mention the product during Internet chat room sessions.
ADS YOUTH AGE 8-21 PAY ATTENTION TO
None A lot
Ads before movie
at theater 27% 25%
TV ads 21% 23%
Ads before
rented video 49% 12%
Magazine ads 44% 11%
Ads seen in
school 50% 8%
Direct mail 66% 7%
Billboards 41% 6%
Radio ads 53% 4%
Online ads 62% 4%
Newspaper ads 62% 4%
E-mail ads 74% 3%
SOURCE: Harris Interactive
Note: Table made from bar graph.
WHICH AVENUES INFLUENCE YOUTH AGE 8-21 TO BUY?
TV 54%
Magazine 23%
Before movie
at theater 19%
On rented video 10%
Seen at school 10%
Online 9%
Billboards 9%
Newspaper 8%
Radio 8%
Direct mail 7%
E-mail 4%
SOURCE: Harris Interactive
Note: Table made from bar graph.
ADVERTISING METHODS KIDLIKE/STRONGLY LIKE
Age 5-12 Age 13-18
Celebrity using
the product 39% 21%
Movie product
placement 33% 20%
Videogame product
placement 27% 13%
Cartoons/TV shows
created for product 31% 3%
Giving free products
to popular kids 24% 12%
Cellphone ads 5% 4%
Source: ”What kids and teens like/dislike about advertising methods.(ADVERTISING),” Youth Markets Alert, 15 September 2006.
1/01/2007
Dove - Campaign for Real Beaury
I think this campaign really speaks to our generation. We aren't fooled by the smoke and mirrors we see in advertising (partially because everyone is well aware of photo retouching and how common place it is). One of my biggest pet peeves is when I see models wearing fake eyelashes (or obviously photoshopped lashes) in mascara ads. I almost feel like we have hit some sort of wall with the "perfect-ization" of everything. Through all the clutter of botox, photoshop, hair extensions, and plastic surgery it is so refreshing to just see something REAL.
www.campaignforrealbeauty.com
12/29/2006
The New Consumer and Future Consumer Trends
| New 'Networked' Consumer More Fluid, Intimate |
| by Joe Mandese, Wednesday, Dec 27, 2006 7:00 AM ET |
| TRENDMEISTER FAITH POPCORN, THE CONSUMER researcher and futurist, popularized the concept of "cocooning" during the 1980s and 1990s. Now, she's predicting a new identity for 2007: Ubiquitous personalized media technologies are spawning a "networked self," which will shape both consumer marketing and society at large in the years ahead. "The technological advances of the information age have produced the most powerful tools yet for shaping our collective human destiny," Popcorn's BrainReserve consultancy says in a year-end outlook on new consumer trends that will impact the marketplace. "The world has simultaneously become more fluid and more connected, one of both infinite possibility and extreme intimacy. As a result, people are turning away from the ego-driven self-aggrandizement that characterized the old era of hyper-consumption." Popcorn says marketers should register that the new "networked self" consumers are more ecologically aware than preceding generations. "With this newfound awareness comes a personal sense of responsibility to understand and engage with the whole," she adds. Other future consumer trends include: Identity Flux: Gender-neutrality goes mainstream. People list skills on their business cards rather than title. They dress up in various costumes, depending on who they feel like being that day. Liquid Brands: Chameleon-like brands focus less on communicating a static message and more on being the right thing for the right persona at the right time. Constantly morphing retailers carry products until they sell out, and never restock. Virtual Immortality: While some let their avatars drift away to online purgatory, many more leave behind specific instructions on how their virtual selves should proceed. Services offering avatar surrogates flourish, and we bequeath avatars to friends and family in our wills. Environmental Movement: Companies are expected to reduce the amount of damage they are doing to our minds. Savvy companies sponsor marketing-free white spaces in lieu of polluting the environment with models and logos. Product Placement: Enviro-biographies are attached to just about everything, letting consumers know the entire life story of a product: where the materials were harvested, where it was constructed, how far it traveled, and where it ended up after being thrown away or recycled. Brand-Aides: Socially responsible brands make a buck while providing desperately needed services. Communities are revived by Target daycare, Starbucks learning centers and Avis transportation services for the elderly. Moral Status Anxiety: A person's net worth is no longer measured by dollars earned, but by improvements made. Families compete with each other on how many people they fed while on vacation, and the most envied house on the block is not the biggest, but the most sustainable. Oldies but Goodies: Respect for elders makes a comeback in the form of Ask Your Grandma hotlines. The proliferation of online video clips by seniors show us how to tie knots and concoct home remedies. |
Upcoming Technology and Media Consumption Patterns
AMERICANS LIKE TO SET THEIR own agenda. For openers, they like to decide when, where and how they watch TV. And there are big bucks for any company that can indulge their viewing preferences. In short, Slingbox is no longer alone. The first quarter of 2007 will see the launch of a number of competitors to Sling Media's device, introduced in 2005, to cater to audience desires. It's unclear whether anyone will come out on top, but 2007 could become the place-shifting battle royale.
One thing that's definitely not settled is the business model. Although ad-supported video content seems like an attractive way to lower prices and boost demand, Cory Treffiletti, vice president of media for Real Branding, says "it's just too early" to know what type of ads will work best. That's mainly because "market penetration of mobile video is still under 1%," according to Treffiletti--although he expects that number to rise quickly.
David Tice, vice president of client service Knowledge Networks, seconded this opinion--noting: "There's a lot of stuff that we read about in the industry-trade publications, where the actual consumer awareness is very low." Tice stressed the need for simplicity in design and payment schemes if place-shifting and mobile devices are to become more popular: "If they want to go beyond the cutting-edge people, the really early adopters, they need to make the devices really easy to load and hook up, and simplify the payment plans."
Marketers are tinkering with the length and placement of video ads. Media executives are interested in any interactive function that allows consumers to respond to ads directly, bringing online-style accountability and transparency to video advertising. As they try out different models, TV consumers will have a wide variety of different place-shifting platforms to experiment with.
Here is a sampling of what products are available, and what's planned in the new year.
Slingbox
Slingbox is still king of the hill in terms of market penetration, and for now, it owns its particular niche--forwarding TV programming to the user over the Internet, allowing Slingbox owners to watch TV anywhere there's an Internet connection. In August, Slingbox also moved into the mobile space, introducing software that makes programming delivered via Slingbox accessible on "third-generation" (3G) mobile devices. The only requirement on the mobile end is Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system.
Sling Media is moving to capitalize on the Web's interactivity, evident in the recent hiring of two new executives: Jason Hirschhorn and Benjamin White. Their experience building MTV's online media business suggests that their mission involves creating new products delivered via Slingbox and finding new ways to monetize the service--possibly including ad support.
If ad support is part of the plan, they will have to tread carefully to avoid the wrath of traditional media companies, like the TV networks, which are sure to resist any attempt to decouple their content from their advertising customers.
Monsoon HAVA
There are other storm clouds on the horizon. Monsoon Multimedia has introduced an ambitious technology called HAVA Wireless HD that allows the same kind of remote viewing via the Internet as Slingbox, along with new features that give it a leg up in home viewing.
Using "VBooster" technology, a HAVA unit can wirelessly stream live TV programs directly to multiple PCs as well as an array of other WiFi devices around the house simultaneously. This allows consumers to record TV programming on PCs for playback.
It can also wirelessly stream live TV from the source or recorded video from a Media Center Edition PC in one room of the house to an Xbox connected to a TV located in another room. Plus, it can "back-translate" video content from a PC to a regular TV--something Sling can't do. Monsoon is about to introduce a remote mobile viewing feature for cell phones using the Microsoft Windows Mobile platform.
HAVA's biggest advantage may be its compatibility with Microsoft Media Center. According to Colin Stiles, Monsoon's executive vice president of sales and marketing, Microsoft and PC manufacturers are interested in HAVA technology because it allows users to transmit content from their TVs to their PCs, and vice versa, without bringing the PC into the entertainment area or connect it with complicated wiring.
In the end, HAVA probably won't be a distinct product marketed directly to consumers. As a combination hardware-software solution, it's more likely to be licensed from Monsoon to multiple OEM's partners, including PC manufacturers, PC peripheral companies and service providers, then offered to consumers as part of a hard bundle with new computer purchases. Stiles says Monsoon has the support of industry leaders promoting HAVA to PC manufacturers and other OEMs at trade shows, touting its compatibility with Microsoft's new VISTA operating system and HD support.
Apple iTV and iPod
The HAVA-centered system is clearly being positioned as an alternative to Apple's new iTV system, also slated for rollout in the first quarter of 2007. The Apple iTV system boasts many of the same features as the hybrid Microsoft-HAVA setup: it allows users to forward video content from their computers to their TVs, via wireless connections.
However, it's not clear whether it will allow users to record and play back TV content on their computers. Apple has a financial interest in driving traffic to its iTunes store for music and video content. Content purchased on iTunes can only be played with Apple's computer player, an iPod, or iTV.
Another major drawback for iTV, compared to HAVA and Slingbox, is that it doesn't allow remote viewing via the Internet. So Apple has worked around the issue. The company has a huge advantage in the iPod, the ubiquitous mobile music and video device introduced in October 2001. Apple began selling an iPod with video-playing capability, the iPod 5G, in October 2005. The 5G allows users to download video online via Apple's iTunes store, and watch it on the go. As with music offerings, the 5G can also play videos in MPEG-4 format not downloaded via iTunes.
In fact, the popularity of the iPod is a major advantage of iTV. For tens of millions of consumers already invested in the iTunes system, buying music and videos for their iTV should be an easy, rational extension. But the iPod has its own drawbacks.
Converting a feature-length MPEG-4 video to iPod format takes an unfeasibly long time--more than 10 hours by one count. Also, the iPod can't store as much video content for remote viewing as, say, a Slingbox combined with a late-model TiVo. A Slingbox-TiVo combo can make up to 300 hours of high-quality video content available remotely--twice the amount that can be stored and transported on an iPod 5G at the lowest level of video quality.
Microsoft Zune
iPod is being challenged by another Microsoft product, Zune, in a multi-platform assault on Apple's current market position. Zune could enable mobile viewing of content delivered via Microsoft Media Center in the same way that iPod serves content delivered via iTunes.
Zune also offers limited WiFi music-sharing with the hope of boosting demand for music and the Zune device itself. Zune has some distinct advantages: the display is almost 50% larger than the iPod, with pixel density twice that of most laptops.
But there are a number of flaws, and Zune's reception has been lukewarm at best. Strangely, Zune isn't readily compatible with Windows Media Player 11. Consumers also complain that the playback quality of video converted from non-wmv formats is poor. And the much-promoted content-sharing function may end up being a drawback, as many consumers find it frustrating that shared songs are only available for three days.
Finally, like the iPod, Zune doesn't allow mobile viewing of streaming video. All video content is stored as downloads from a PC via a hardwired connection. Zune's WiFi connection can only download (and transmit) songs and pictures.
Sony LocationFree
In the mobile video arena, Zune and iPod face competition not just from Slingbox and HAVA--which both offer wireless streaming video to mobile devices--but newcomer Sony as well. Sony is promoting the PlayStation Portable (PSP) as a mobile viewer for remotely downloaded video, becoming available the first quarter of 2007. With this late entry, the mobile place-shifting market is now, at least, a five-sided melee.
Like Slingbox, Sony's place-shifting video service, LocationFree, uses the Internet to forward video to remote locations. It requires users to own Sony AV equipment like the PSP. Users must be in a WiFi hotspot to receive mobile downloads. The new function also requires an additional 4GB memory stick to store video content--a drawback in the eyes of some techies, who consider it inconvenient.
On the plus side, rumor has it that Sony is striking deals with content clearinghouses like Amazon's UnBox and MovieLink to provide popular programming. The PSP has, by far, the largest screen and best resolution of any of the mobile video devices, and it plays a variety of video formats.
Sony's business model differs from Apple in that its main stock-in-trade is the hardware itself, whereas Apple has built an online content emporium--the iTunes store--around the popularity of the iPod. Thus, Sony doesn't have an interest in making it more difficult to watch certain video formats. Whether consumers see this as a benefit depends on whether they are invested in an iTunes collection to the exclusion of other players.
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Mobile-phone service providers are also scrambling to introduce mobile video to their networks, hoping to cash in on convergence, and in effect, become media networks. Cingular, Verizon, Sprint and others are already selling mobile video offerings as monthly subscriptions, in addition to regular fees.
Verizon V-Cast, for example, offers a selection of news, entertainment, sports and weather video clips on demand for a monthly fee of $15.00. Cingular Video offers a similar selection for $19.99 a month. The video is streamed directly to the user's phone, and there's no limit on viewing. Typically, these services also sell "extras," like wallpaper graphics and ring tones for $1.99 and up.
However, it's important to note that this is not true "place-shifting," because it doesn't allow viewers direct access to TV programming. The mobile video services partner with well-known content providers, like the networks, for a limited selection of short video clips, usually two-to-three minutes in length. While the industry is experimenting with a free subscription model using ad support, none of the big mobile carriers have taken the plunge.
Personalize your web experience!
If you have never heard of NetVibes you should definately check it out! It is a really powerful, flexible service that enables you to control the way you experience the web. It allows you to have email, RSS feeds, web services and more at your fingertips and also serves as a personal planner with calendar and to do list features.
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New Tool for Product Research and Collaboration!
Using a Wiki for Product Research and Collaboration
Guy Kawasaki, author of Art of the Start and contributor to the soon to be released Duct Tape Marketing has created a simple wiki to gather input for his next book. It's a nice way to demonstrate the community building tools available to just about any small business owner. Go join in
What's a wiki? Let's turn to the encyclopedia built on one Wikipedia - The definition of a wiki
Companies are finding wikis to be great for internal and external collaboration too.
- Some wiki tools and resources for you to check out - not exhaustive, there are lots more.
- PBWiki
- Google's Jotspot
- MediaWiki - the tool that runs Wikipedia
- EditMe
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