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.
No comments:
Post a Comment