Despite the simplicity of the roadblock with somewhat of an interaction, this ad by Apple scores yet another point against the PC squad. Touché boys! Maybe a animated wallpaper could have been nice as an extra but overall it's got my attention.
Yet another PC versus MAC ad
Despite the simplicity of the roadblock with somewhat of an interaction, this ad by Apple scores yet another point against the PC squad. Touché boys! Maybe a animated wallpaper could have been nice as an extra but overall it's got my attention.
Brijit: A Digg For Dead-Tree Media
Brijit: A Digg For Dead-Tree Media
Can’t keep up with all those magazines piling up in your mailbox, especially the high-brow ones you thought would make you smarter but never have time to read? Well, cancel those subscriptions and head on over to Brijit, a self-styled “Thinking Man’s Digg.”
Can’t keep up with all those magazines piling up in your mailbox, especially the high-brow ones you thought would make you smarter but never have time to read? Well, cancel those subscriptions and head on over to Brijit, a self-styled “Thinking Man’s Digg.”
There you will find 100-word abstracts on the latest articles from magazines such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The Economist, Fortune, Harper’s, Vanity Fair, and Wired, with links to most of them. The site also covers video from 60 Minutes, Charlie Rose, The Colbert Report, and The Daily Show. Readers vote the best stories up or down, so you can keep up on the ones most likely to come up during a dinner party. You can even get paid to write abstracts, $5 apiece if your submissions are accepted.
Brijit is designed to be a filter for the smart set. But it oddly defines smart only as what’s in print. Where are the blogs? Other than Salon and Slate, very little online-only media is represented. Perhaps that is because Brijit is focussed on long-form narrative, and there is not much of that online. But it makes you wonder whether sifting through the dead-tree titles will be enough to keep readers coming back to this site, or whether they will prefer a broader view of the world.
Brijit has raised $1 million from angel investors, including former Time Inc. editor-in-chief Norman Pearlstine.
Blogged with Flock
Pas besoin d'une raison pour un nouveau browser
Pas trop sur si j'aime ca encore mais bon, le changement c'est toujours bon.
Welcome to Flock 1.0
Et bien oui j'essaye un nouveau browser, c'est pas par reproche à Firefox que j'adore encore. On s'entend que IE est tres tres tres loin derriere dans mon rétroviseur...
Mais bon, j'ai trouvé ce nouvel outil FLOCK 1.0 ( déja c'est pas 2.0) avec la self-proclaimed promesse d'etre le "social web browser". Interessant jusqu'à maintenant! Usage assez simple avec intégration de mon blogger, facebook, flickr, etc...
Alors apres 1 heure d'usage c'est 7/10 et une recommandation à mes amigos. Je vous garde au courant!
Welcome to Flock 1.0
Et bien oui j'essaye un nouveau browser, c'est pas par reproche à Firefox que j'adore encore. On s'entend que IE est tres tres tres loin derriere dans mon rétroviseur...
Mais bon, j'ai trouvé ce nouvel outil FLOCK 1.0 ( déja c'est pas 2.0) avec la self-proclaimed promesse d'etre le "social web browser". Interessant jusqu'à maintenant! Usage assez simple avec intégration de mon blogger, facebook, flickr, etc...
Alors apres 1 heure d'usage c'est 7/10 et une recommandation à mes amigos. Je vous garde au courant!
Blogged with Flock
VA Tech
L'horribe incident qui a pris place a Virgina Tech aujourd'hui est un autre exemple de l'horreur humaine lorsque des armes à feu sont dans les mains de monstres et malades.
Voir article très intéressant sur le crowdsourcing des nouvelles lors de la tuerie.
Crowdsourcing the VA Tech shooting
Voir article très intéressant sur le crowdsourcing des nouvelles lors de la tuerie.
Crowdsourcing the VA Tech shooting
Second life...encore second life
Apparement nous sommes très méchant.
Oui, voyez vous, dans ce monde virtuel de la spéculation de buzzword marketing, nous aimons prévoir le prochain train-wreck. Assis tranquilles dans les estrades, comfo et cyniques, on regarde les gladiateurs de buzz se tapper sur la gueulle à coup de nouveaux joujous technologiques. C'est présisement la que notre cynisme se crystalise: "ca va jamais marcher ce truc", "c'est une mode", "ca va disparaitre d'ici 2 mois", "c'est qui utilise ce truc anyways". Oui je sais, on ne le dit pas tout le temps pour tous le nouveaux joujous 2.0 mais bon, c'est définitivement la tendence. Mais voyez vous, malgré tous les nay-sayers, desfois , le plus doomed des doomed des produits web pesistent. Et non seulement survivent mais font un pied de nez à l'establishement (en l'occurence nous, "the man").
Je vous présente le brand map de l'univers Second Life. Voici toutes les marques cartographiées par leur présence dans le monde SL. Effectivement, il est possible que ce soit encore un autre Buzz marketing. Possible. Quand meme, BMW, Sony, Toyota, Comcast, Pontiac, STA travel, Cisco, Reebok, Telus, etc, c'est pas que du geek-wear web. Mais bon...
En passant, intéressant article sur le " Futur de Marketing Interactif". J'adore l'expression. Business week online a sorti quelques résultats de sondage sur les différentes initiatives que les agences et clients ont entrepris. A lire.
Oui, voyez vous, dans ce monde virtuel de la spéculation de buzzword marketing, nous aimons prévoir le prochain train-wreck. Assis tranquilles dans les estrades, comfo et cyniques, on regarde les gladiateurs de buzz se tapper sur la gueulle à coup de nouveaux joujous technologiques. C'est présisement la que notre cynisme se crystalise: "ca va jamais marcher ce truc", "c'est une mode", "ca va disparaitre d'ici 2 mois", "c'est qui utilise ce truc anyways". Oui je sais, on ne le dit pas tout le temps pour tous le nouveaux joujous 2.0 mais bon, c'est définitivement la tendence. Mais voyez vous, malgré tous les nay-sayers, desfois , le plus doomed des doomed des produits web pesistent. Et non seulement survivent mais font un pied de nez à l'establishement (en l'occurence nous, "the man").
Je vous présente le brand map de l'univers Second Life. Voici toutes les marques cartographiées par leur présence dans le monde SL. Effectivement, il est possible que ce soit encore un autre Buzz marketing. Possible. Quand meme, BMW, Sony, Toyota, Comcast, Pontiac, STA travel, Cisco, Reebok, Telus, etc, c'est pas que du geek-wear web. Mais bon...
En passant, intéressant article sur le " Futur de Marketing Interactif". J'adore l'expression. Business week online a sorti quelques résultats de sondage sur les différentes initiatives que les agences et clients ont entrepris. A lire.
The web
The web is not a media.
The web is not a destination.
The web is not an advertising medium.
The web is not technology, or worse IT.
The web is not content.
The same way Hydro Quebec is not gaming, cooking or alarm clocks.
The web is our information matrix.
It is our conscience, our past, our hopes, our dreams.
It provides tools, and extensions to speech and print.
The web will not make our life harder or easier.
The web is amoral and very organic.
Our flaws and our aspirations leave their mark and grow in this matrix.
Brands exist in this matrix.
As well as people, in forms they cannot take elsewhere.
Emotions are created and maintained.
Thoughts and information are gathered using tools.
There is no online and offline.
There is no cyber or digital.
There is no traditional or new-media.
The web is uniting humans.
Not to say a book doesn’t.
A book is paper and paper has limits.
The web has problems, and problems create fear.
The web is not the solution to all problems.
The web is not the source of all problems.
What it is, after all, is very simple:
The web is the most advanced human language .
Montage-a-google
Montage-a-google est une app web qui utilise Google image pour générer une mosaique de thumbnails basée sur les mots clés d'une recherche. Voici ce que Tourisme Québec génère:
Définitivement a essayer avec des mots clés choc tel que 9-11, George W Bush, Prozac, etc...
Montage-a-Google
Définitivement a essayer avec des mots clés choc tel que 9-11, George W Bush, Prozac, etc...
Montage-a-Google
Myspace au service de la mode...
Apparemment, la deuxieme source de trafic UK pour le site d'une boutique de mode de Glasgow, TopShop.co.uk, proviendrait de son profil Myspace.
3230 amis quand meme!Article complet de Helen Leggatt.
Twitter newbie
Ok Ok Ok Ok, apres hi5, linkedin, myspace, facebook et viaduc, me voici sur un autre band-wagon de communauté web : http://twitter.com.
Concept assez intéressant: le discours avec amis et membres de la tribus tourne autour de la question (très) existentielle WHAT ARE YOU DOING.
Widget American Airlines
Outil interessant pour interface Google IG. Un widget American Airlines offrant a l'usager un acces direct au moteur de réservation et disponibilitées en temps réel. Un exemple d'outillage et de réflexion out-of-the-site qui étend la portée et l'usage. A quand un engin similaire pour les sites de rencontre? Pour ceux qui ne m'ont pas entendu parler des RSS en 2004, et surtout ceux qui l'ont vu venir, voici une application monnaiyable tres tangible pour l'ésotérique RSS ;-)
Telus attaque !
ET bien nous voici en pleine guerre de transférabilité. Depuis la campagne de Vidéotron avec Jaimemonnuméro.com, et les campagnes de Virgin plutot cute, voici maintenant Telus sur l'offensive. Telus a effectivement acheté TOUT l'inventaire publicitaire du réseau ad-sense de Google le14 Mars. Blitz très aggressif mais très pointu considérant la portée et l'exclusivité. Bravo Telus, un très bel exemple.
Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us
Despite all the marketing buzzword and the bs-meter running on high lately, the web has changed. Changed our ways of communicating and the way information is consummed. Changing the way humans process information and organize their thoughts around a topic.I like this video for its simplicity and its brute strenght at documenting how far along we have gone. SO beyond the buzzwords and the next big google-esque widget, lets remember the beauty behind communicating and exchanging. Humans. Not machine.
Despite all the marketing buzzword and the bs-meter running on high lately, the web has changed. Changed our ways of communicating and the way information is consummed. Changing the way humans process information and organize their thoughts around a topic.I like this video for its simplicity and its brute strenght at documenting how far along we have gone. SO beyond the buzzwords and the next big google-esque widget, lets remember the beauty behind communicating and exchanging. Humans. Not machine.
Make your city more exciting
Ok it's been done. And it's gonna be done over and over again.
Nice interface, so-so execution and customization. Not as much a "me-too" vis-a-vis Stockholm, but more of a "kinda-like-but-not-really".
Nice interface, so-so execution and customization. Not as much a "me-too" vis-a-vis Stockholm, but more of a "kinda-like-but-not-really".
Intel Launches Blogger Challenge with Mystery Blogger
- The City Blogger - Jen Chung from The Gothamist
- The Gadget Blogger - Mia Kim from Popgadget
- The Video Blogger - Bre Pettis from Make Magazine
- The Mommy Blogger - Mindy Roberts from The Mommy Blogger
- The Tech Blogger - Paul Stamatiou from Paul Stamatiou
- The Food Blogger - Pim Techamuanvivit from Chezpim
Not only is this one of most unique collections of bloggers that I have ever seen participating in a single promotion, it will also unfold over the next five weeks to offer an interesting window into the art of blogging and what drives bloggers to share their lives and view online, regardless of their "category." Perhaps most interestingly, at noon EST on November 15th we will unveil the identity of our mystery blogger - a person who many have considered to have defined the genre of blogging itself and continues to innovate and remain an inspiration to many other bloggers. Think you know who it is? Share your guess with Intel through the contact form on the site and you could win a prize from Intel. Either way, check out the blogger challenge site, share a comment or thought, and add your voice to the challenge.
Wired News: Social Bookmarking Showdown
Wired News: Social Bookmarking Showdown
The reason that social bookmarking has exploded in the last year is obvious -- storing your bookmarks online instead of in the browser just makes sense.
Social bookmarking services let you keep links to your favorite web destinations in one location that's accessible from any computer on the net. Add the ability to share your favorite web destinations and search through other users' bookmarks to discover new sites, and you've got a highly addictive and truly remarkable phenomenon.
NFL.com - Super Ad
NFL.com - Super Ad
"The NFL wants you! The NFL is going to make the best Super Bowl commercial ever and this is the fans' chance to make that happen. This fall, you the fans, can pitch us your idea for the best NFL Super Bowl commercial ever. The winning pitch may be produced into a TV commercial that will air during Super Bowl XLI to be seen by millions of people! "
"The NFL wants you! The NFL is going to make the best Super Bowl commercial ever and this is the fans' chance to make that happen. This fall, you the fans, can pitch us your idea for the best NFL Super Bowl commercial ever. The winning pitch may be produced into a TV commercial that will air during Super Bowl XLI to be seen by millions of people! "
Analysis of Political Paid Search Ads
Analysis of Political Paid Search Ads
The Rimm-Kaufman Group published an analysis of a handful of political ads that appeared in search engines (mostly Google). Some of the findings: the blues were more negative than the reds but the reds were more numerous, no ad referenced Bush, only two ads linked to videos. The observation I liked the most: "Blue ads were more likely to include an exclamation point. Red ads were more likely to contain a question mark."
There is something haiku about packing powerful political proclamations into the puny 90 characters of an AdWords blurb.
The Rimm-Kaufman Group published an analysis of a handful of political ads that appeared in search engines (mostly Google). Some of the findings: the blues were more negative than the reds but the reds were more numerous, no ad referenced Bush, only two ads linked to videos. The observation I liked the most: "Blue ads were more likely to include an exclamation point. Red ads were more likely to contain a question mark."
There is something haiku about packing powerful political proclamations into the puny 90 characters of an AdWords blurb.
By Microsoft Breaks Search Ad Campaign; Revs, Profits Up @ Media Buyer Planner
Microsoft Breaks Search Ad Campaign; Revs, Profits Up @ Media Buyer Planner
Microsoft today broke a print and online ad campaign talking up its search capabilities; it also reported revenue and profit gains - though its online division lost money.
Microsoft today broke a print and online ad campaign talking up its search capabilities; it also reported revenue and profit gains - though its online division lost money.
Measurement - Another Free Google Tool: Multivariate Website Optimizer
Measurement - Another Free Google Tool: Multivariate Website Optimizer
At the Emetrics Summit in Washington DC last Wednesday, Brett Crosby of Google announced the launch of Google Website Optimizer, beta. A multivariate testing platform free to those with a Google Adwords account, Optimizer allows you to test landing pages or conversion events for not only search engine marketing, but also email, ads or an offline drive-to-web campaign. Sure, this will help Google increase Adwords revenue but it’s a definite win-win for Adwords customers as well. Way to go Google!
I had been in Washington for the Summit since the Saturday before, and after 4 days of very long days and jam-packed sessions, some of our heads were filled to brim. However, we were awake enough to suspect something was up when Brett walked to the podium wearing a suit with his presentation on a flash drive and not preloaded.
Use of the Optimizer is by invitation only. Google will be screening sites before they allow access to the Optimizer. Brett said that they definitely have criteria for admission and I hope that this includes a screening of the readiness of the applicant to do a robust test. There’s nothing more dangerous than an invalid test. Because people tend to have more confidence in test results, they tend to risk more. Taking action on invalid test results can be deadly.
At the Emetrics Summit in Washington DC last Wednesday, Brett Crosby of Google announced the launch of Google Website Optimizer, beta. A multivariate testing platform free to those with a Google Adwords account, Optimizer allows you to test landing pages or conversion events for not only search engine marketing, but also email, ads or an offline drive-to-web campaign. Sure, this will help Google increase Adwords revenue but it’s a definite win-win for Adwords customers as well. Way to go Google!
I had been in Washington for the Summit since the Saturday before, and after 4 days of very long days and jam-packed sessions, some of our heads were filled to brim. However, we were awake enough to suspect something was up when Brett walked to the podium wearing a suit with his presentation on a flash drive and not preloaded.
Use of the Optimizer is by invitation only. Google will be screening sites before they allow access to the Optimizer. Brett said that they definitely have criteria for admission and I hope that this includes a screening of the readiness of the applicant to do a robust test. There’s nothing more dangerous than an invalid test. Because people tend to have more confidence in test results, they tend to risk more. Taking action on invalid test results can be deadly.
Mobile Social Networking Gets Boost @ Media Buyer Planner
Mobile Social Networking Gets Boost @ Media Buyer Planner
Hoping to give a boost to its mobile social-networking service, Boost Mobile has teamed up with West Coast Customs in a promotion to give away a free customized Dodge Charger.
Hoping to give a boost to its mobile social-networking service, Boost Mobile has teamed up with West Coast Customs in a promotion to give away a free customized Dodge Charger. Boost Mobile's promotion is aimed at recruiting teens and young adults to its Hookt social networking service, AdWeek reports (via MarketingVox). Hookt's 300,000 members can register for the contest via ads on the welcome screen of their cell phones.
Social networking appears ready to make the jump from the computer to the cell phone. MySpace has a deal with Helio to allow users of the service to access the social-networking site. Hookt, which Boost introduced last year, allows users to create profiles and find users with similar interests. The service costs 50 cents a day.
Yahoo Launches Panama Ad Platform @ Media Buyer Planner
Yahoo Launches Panama Ad Platform
Yahoo's long-awaited - and belated - ad-serving platform update, dubbed Panama, has finally been launched. The first phase of the launch consists of a new interface; the new ranking algorithm is expected to go live early next year.
Some of Yahoo Search Marketing's U.S. advertisers have begun asking to switch to the new system, and more will be invited to migrate through early 2007, Yahoo CEO Terry Semel announced during a conference call discussing third-quarter earnings, MediaPost reports (via MarketingVOX). "We believe that through this platform we will be able to unlock the full potential of our large global user base and improve our search monetization capabilities," Semel is quoted as saying.
Setting up a Mobile Marketing Program: A Primer | MarketingProfs.com
Setting up a Mobile Marketing Program: A Primer | MarketingProfs.com: "Quick—is your marketing mobile? Can your message reach your on-the-go audience and can your in-motion customer interact with you wherever they are?"
Jaide.ca
Jaide.ca
Tous les revenus publicitaires de Jaide.ca sont versés à la Société canadienne de la sclérose en plaques.
Tous les revenus publicitaires de Jaide.ca sont versés à la Société canadienne de la sclérose en plaques.
Materazzi's steel chest
I think that fo the 1st time, I am seriousy doubting Nike's advertising smarts. A great positive brand like Nike should try to distance itsef from such a moron as Materazzi. Obviously hype is hype and this ad will work itsef into the notoriously-popular ads of Nike in the end. Maybe this raises the question of popular sports brands associating themseves with professional athletes, be them coke-sniffing wife beating basketball players, gambling hockey players, and dopped up cyclists. They make for good entertainment but bring down the positive image of the sport. Nike, you messed up on this one despite the tongue in cheek tone.
I think that fo the 1st time, I am seriousy doubting Nike's advertising smarts. A great positive brand like Nike should try to distance itsef from such a moron as Materazzi. Obviously hype is hype and this ad will work itsef into the notoriously-popular ads of Nike in the end. Maybe this raises the question of popular sports brands associating themseves with professional athletes, be them coke-sniffing wife beating basketball players, gambling hockey players, and dopped up cyclists. They make for good entertainment but bring down the positive image of the sport. Nike, you messed up on this one despite the tongue in cheek tone.
Seven Deadly Sins of Advertising Via Viral Video
Show me a marketer without “viral” on her marketing plan and I’ll show you an online video site that’s profitable. Advertising offline is getting harder with time-shifted television and declining viewership, and online advertising is getting more complex with paid-search prices rising and banner click-thru’s dropping. Given the low variable cost of viral, it’s natural that advertisers would want to experiment with it. “I want a piece of Web 2.0,” they say.
Advertisers beware. Getting people to promote your product by forwarding a viral video is not as easy as it appears. Save you and your clients some money and consider the “7 Deadly Sins of Advertising Via Viral Video.”
Advertisers beware. Getting people to promote your product by forwarding a viral video is not as easy as it appears. Save you and your clients some money and consider the “7 Deadly Sins of Advertising Via Viral Video.”
1. Make a white and brown cow. Seth Godin has a term called “Purple Cow,” which refers to marketing that is “remarkable” and worth paying attention to and talking about. Your viral video better be Technicolor Purple if you actually expect it to break through an increasingly crowded space. What is remarkable? Take a look at the Volkswagen “Fast” series featuring Jim Meskimen. (Jim is a comedian and impersonator, and you’ve heard him as the voice of Messing With Sasquatch” series. Would you view this content more than once, and show it to a co-worker or forward it to a friend? I would, and have.
2. Pretend you’re not advertising. Nothing quite irrates a consumer like being secretly persuaded. “Al Gore’s Penguin Army” is a classic example of a “funny video” that was exposed as having a PR agenda. Transparency is a ticket in the viral video door, friends. No ticket, no ride.
3. Spend a fortune on production. It pains me to see companies throw around huge production budgets on online video. I’ve seen it payoff only once. Here’s Smirnoff’s Ice Tea Partay (which was featured yesterday as one of YouTube’s top 3 on Good Morning America). Clearly this cost north of $300K to produce. But even if you pay that much, you might be better off giving it a “rough around the edges” look. Improv acting, sloppy camera moves and poor production can actually give your video that “consumer generated video” feel. There’s going to be a huge market for individual directors that can shoot viral videos for around $20-$50K, and it makes it much easier to get an ROI on viral video when you’re not having to recoup a big fixed-cost investment in production. When Yahoo featured on its homepage my “Lay Me Off” video (which I’ve temporarily pulled down at the request of some of the actors), I got a number of e-mails from people asking how much I’d charge for a viral video for their clients. Since I have a day job and I do videos as a hobby, I declined. But they’ll find someone who is quite happy to take a low fee for a video that’s powerful. Of course an advertising agency will probably mark up the director’s fees by 500%.
4. Tell consumers instead of engage them. Don’t think of your viral video as an adaptation of a 60-second spot. Obviously it’s got to be irreverent, weird, funny and different. But more importantly, the web has the ability to make the viral event a dialogue. Contests are a good example. There have been plenty of online video contests, but Mentos Geyser Contest is already shaping to be one of the most successful. Check out all of the consumers creating buzz around a candy that was a 7-11 relic 6 months ago. Seventy to date! Production costs for Mentos on those videos? Zero. (By the way, vote this Mentos Jet Pack one 5 stars and I’ll send you some cheese). BarterBee’s contest created buzzz for a CD and DVD exchange. The CEO wore a bee suit to promote it. Brave.
5. Do a video contest because everyone else is. This online-video “contest fad” will continue, and it will become more difficult to activate consumers to promote your product. Do a search for “video contest” on Google and you’ll see four or five different ads for contests. The David Chappelle video contest is a good example of a nice idea with some executional flaws. First, it didn’t initially promote the contest on its own website because it wanted to focus people on buying the DVD. Second, it petered out. Contest winners weren’t announced and insufficient media budget promoted the contest. To give you an idea of how abused contests are getting, there was a summer promotion for a mayonnaise manufacturer looking for videos about may recipes.
6. Set unrealstic conversion metrics. After someone watches your video, what do you think they’ll do? Will 30% come to your site? Will 10% buy your brand in two months? Give me a break. Viral video is one of the most difficult-to-measure parts of your marketing mix. Sure you can count views. But none of the online video sites are yet able to track the viewers so you can conduct your DynamicLogic unaided recall and awareness study. And very f people will take an immediate and measurable action. Sorry to sober you.
7. Throw in the towel and decide to just advertise around viral videos. Please don’t give up and decide that it’s easier to simply advertise around videos. There are certainly products and services that can do well through this, but it’s the lazy way to approach online video. The online video sites are mostly new, and there is an unlimited possibility for creative partnerships. Even YouTube (which has been slow to embrace commercial interests) has a homepage advertising feature for advertisers. As I write, it’s a trailer for Beerfest. Yesterday it was Paris Hilton. Revver has run a few contests, and has married EepyBird to Mentos in probably the best case study for viral video marketing yet. For best results, don’t think you have to decide between getting your videos seen on sites for free OR advertising on them. Do both in partnership.
Book Preview: Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz
I highly recommend this book because it was so practical, tactical, and hysterical. Here are the ten ideas, stories, and recommendations from the book that I liked the most:
Companies could hire a customer service rep to cruise the Internet looking for kudos and complaints. When the rep finds kudos, he should thank the person. When the rep finds complaints, he should get it fixed. This is such a simple, effective idea—I doubt, therefore, that many companies will do it! :-)
Commerce Bank has a free change-counting machine in its branches that anyone can use. This beats the hell out of the machines in markets that take 7%.
A study by the Verde Group showed that people who heard about a bad shopping experience are less likely to go to the same store than the person who actually had the bad experience.
The most powerful word-of-mouth advocates might be the customers who have only done business with you once so far. They are the most excited; repeat customers are probably accustomed to the great product/service and therefore, ironically, less likely to talk about it.
The Prostate Net, a not-for-profit educational organization, contacted 50,000 barbers to talk to their clients about prostate cancer detection and prevention.
Incentives and rewards are likely to reduce word-of-mouth advertising because motivation becomes suspect. You can’t “buy” word-of-mouth advertising.
The Wynn Las Vegas resort gave free rooms to cabbies to generate word-of-mouth advertising via this very influential part of the transportation infrastructure.
Henkel Consumer Adhesives, the manufacturer of Duck Tape, sponsors a contest for college scholarships called “Stuck at Prom.” Is this funny or what?
A word-of-mouth campaign, brought back “Family Guy” from the dead (that is, cancellation). How many tv series have you heard of coming back from the dead?
Zappos has a one-year, no questions asked return policy for shoes. This boggles my mind although I’ve never heard of any woman return anything to Zappos.
College Students Wired from Dorm Room to Classroom @ Media Buyer Planner
College Students Wired from Dorm Room to Classroom @ Media Buyer Planner: "These essential tools tether students to a sophisticated, wired campus, where connectedness extends from the dorm room to the classroom; and friends, professors, and troves of digital music are rarely out of touch."
Data released this week from the 2006 Alloy College Explorer Study, powered by Harris Interactive, shows that mobility is among students' highest priorities. Students are spending a total of eleven hours of each day engaged with media and are constantly on the go.
The role of desktop computers is down 13 percent this year, with 50 percent of students going to class with a laptop. That 8 percent gain over the previous year may indicate students' preference for mobility.
Students also hit wifi hotspots on campus to enjoy the nearly 3.5 hours of email, instant messaging, and web surfing they put in daily.
Campuses nationwide have ramped up to meet student demand for mobility and networked interaction. Twenty-nine percent of all schools provide blanket coverage, with 64 percent reporting such plans in the works.
The classroom lecture has gone digital as well, with a growing number of students utilizing their portable MP3 players to catch up by podcast.
As for cell phones, an additional 1.3 million students now own them and are spending nearly 20 minutes each day sending and receiving text messages. Of the 41 percent of students who own an MP3 player, 85 percent are plugged in to their portable MP3's daily.
The role of "friends" has also evolved within the online world, empowered by the widespread adoption of social networking sites among students. Fully 85 percent of students who visit social networking sites use them to see what their friends are up to. On average, 18-24 year old students are hanging out on these sites for 6.5 hours a week. Students claim to have an average of 111 friends across many profiles online, changing the definition of today's peer group and the way in which students connect with each other. And 61 percent of students on social networking sites say they are interacting with people they've never met in person.
The survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of Alloy Media + Marketing among 1,793 U.S. college students between April 14 and May 2, 2006.
Survey: Users Support Ad Supported Video
Survey: Users Support Ad Supported Video: "We think the Internet becomes just another way for people to get this programming, as opposed to a zero-sum battle with other media,' said McIntyre."
Clips and full-length video are watched by 54 percent of Web users in the U.S., and 32 percent of that group says they watch more online video than one year ago.
Interestingly, online video users exhibit a preference for ad-supported content. Seventy one percent prefer to watch an ad for free video while 23 percent said they would rather pay for ad-free video.
Demand for ad-supported video still hasn't provided enough inventory. "Right now there's not," VP of AOL Video Fred McIntyre told ClickZ News regarding inventory availability. "As we get more and more people finding video through AOL, we'll create more inventory through that process."
News is the highest-watched category of video online. Seventy-two percent watch clips reporting current events and other news, whereas 59 percent of users watch TV and movie clips on the Internet.
"We think the Internet becomes just another way for people to get this programming, as opposed to a zero-sum battle with other media," said McIntyre.
About 69 percent search for online video; 61 percent are often notified virally by friends; and 58 percent regularly search sites which host video.
The survey examined the habits of 1,347 online video users.
By Enid Burns | September 6, 2006
Clips and full-length video are watched by 54 percent of Web users in the U.S., and 32 percent of that group says they watch more online video than one year ago.
Interestingly, online video users exhibit a preference for ad-supported content. Seventy one percent prefer to watch an ad for free video while 23 percent said they would rather pay for ad-free video.
Demand for ad-supported video still hasn't provided enough inventory. "Right now there's not," VP of AOL Video Fred McIntyre told ClickZ News regarding inventory availability. "As we get more and more people finding video through AOL, we'll create more inventory through that process."
News is the highest-watched category of video online. Seventy-two percent watch clips reporting current events and other news, whereas 59 percent of users watch TV and movie clips on the Internet.
"We think the Internet becomes just another way for people to get this programming, as opposed to a zero-sum battle with other media," said McIntyre.
About 69 percent search for online video; 61 percent are often notified virally by friends; and 58 percent regularly search sites which host video.
The survey examined the habits of 1,347 online video users.
Bypassing the Search Engine: Using Direct Navigation to Your Advantage | MarketingProfs.com
Bypassing the Search Engine: Using Direct Navigation to Your Advantage | MarketingProfs.com
Bypassing the Search Engine: Using Direct Navigation to Your Advantage
by Matt Bentley
Bypassing the Search Engine: Using Direct Navigation to Your Advantage
by Matt Bentley
Marketers assume that "googling" for information is an automatic response the instant a Web surfer opens a browser. And the theory holds true for many Internet users.
But for a number of reasons, and with increasing regularity, many people bypass search engines altogether in favor of a technique called direct navigation. Simply put, direct navigation is when a user directly types a Web address into a browser.
The concept of direct navigation is as old as the Web—Internet users frequently key in their favorite sites stored in their personal memory. To put this into context, WebSideStory's StatMarket division notes that more than two-thirds of daily global Internet users arrive at a Web site via direct navigation, compared with just 14 percent from search engines.
But the phenomenon of direct navigation to generically named sites with an "intent to search" is a relatively new concept that shifts how marketers must think about their own Web site traffic and how consumers are finding information about the things that interest them.
Marketers are turning to direct navigation programs to compliment their search campaigns for a number of reasons, including the emergence of programs like AdSense and other technologies that can populate unused Web domains with information to create mini-portals. Online consumers are turning to these "parked" Web sites—pages populated mostly by relevant keyword ads—because they can sometimes produce better, quicker results that avoid the manipulated listings that increasingly clog search engine results for highly commercial keyword terms.
With that much quality traffic heading to these generic sites, organizations are now considering how to capture that traffic directly. Consider that a parked page like Wifi.com, for example, captures 15,000 monthly targeted visitors. Purchasing this volume of traffic through a pay-per-click search engine would cost nearly $10,000 per month (based on the current top Yahoo bid price of $0.66 for the term "Wifi"). Yet we have the domain name currently listed for sale at domain marketplace Sedo.com with an asking price of $350,000—an investment that would pay for itself in under three years—even faster if current trends of rising traffic and click prices continue. So instead of writing a hefty check to Google or Yahoo every month, why not purchase the domain and secure this traffic for life?
Marketers can use generic targeted domain names as a traffic source in three primary ways:
- Simply re-direct the domain to your main site. Examples: Books.com (Barnes & Noble), PC.com (Intel), Loans.com (Bank of America), Website.com (DotEasy), RentalCar.com (Enterprise)
- Use the domain as a targeted vertical portal to drive traffic to your main site. This method requires more effort but is more likely to lead to increasing traffic over time, generate higher conversion rates, and strengthen your position as a leader in a given market category. Examples: Baby.com (Johnson & Johnson), Meningitis.com (Chiron Vaccines)
- Re-brand your entire operation on the new generic domain. Obviously, this is the most extreme example, but there are many advantages to branding your company on a premium generic domain: You instantly gain credibility as a leader in your space, and you generally garner higher conversion-to-sale ratios with less expenditure on marketing and brand-building. Examples: DealTime and Epinions become Shopping.com; Ice.com becomes Diamond.com.
Finding the Right Domains for Direct Navigation
There are a number of things to consider when determining which domain names to acquire in your direct navigation initiatives. Much of it gets back to marketing basics: Who are your audience and how can you reach them?
- Taken from a customer perspective, what are they looking for that you have to offer? Don't just think of which "category" you position yourself in, but how do your customers describe you/your product? Acquiring the .com version of your most productive SEM keyword terms is usually a good place to start.
- Keep it simple. One-word domains or very short phrases offer the greatest value and highest traffic.
- Choose the right extension. Generally .com domains are the best choice as they receive a magnitude more type-in traffic than other extensions. However, if you're interested in traffic from a particularly country, you may be better off acquiring the country-code version of the domain name—for example, .co.uk for traffic from the United Kingdom.
- Keep it generic. Registering a variation of your competitor's site or products rather than generic descriptive terms could put you in conflict with trademark law.
- Research traffic volume before buying. Some domain sellers or domain marketplaces will provide guidance as to how many visitors the domain currently receives. Otherwise, a handy rule of thumb is that direct navigation traffic volume is generally correlated to search query volume for that keyword, which you can research using Yahoo's Keyword Selector Tool (http://inventory.overture.com).
Once you identify the domains you'd like, there are a variety of ways to acquire them. If you're lucky and the domains are still available, you just need to choose a domain registrar and pay an annual registration fee of $10 to $35. If the domains are already taken—and most good traffic domains are— you still have options: you can try researching the domain owner and making an unsolicited offer, or browse the listings at a domain name marketplace where you'll find thousands of high-traffic domain names that are definitely for sale.
If all of that sounds like a bit too much work, you can always hire a domain broker to do all of the legwork, including tracking down owners, negotiating a price, and assisting with the ownership transfer.
Direct Navigation as a Marketing Investment
As a marketer, investing in direct navigation generally pays for itself within a year or two, dependent of course on the quality of the domain and how well you can convert the traffic into sales. However, instead of being an expense as with purchasing clicks from a search engine, acquiring a domain (or portfolio of domains) for direct navigation purposes becomes an asset that retains its value (possibly even increasing in value) and can even be re-sold in the future should your marketing objectives change.
Domain name prices have risen dramatically over the past years as the supply of quality names becomes ever smaller; with more and more businesses coming online every day, that picture is unlikely to change.
Only a few very savvy firms have already discovered that in this click-hungry era, when many companies blow tens of thousands of dollars each month on PPC advertising, that purchasing targeted generic domain names delivers the same type of high-quality targeted visitors at a much, much lower cost.
ClickZ Internet Marketing Solutions for Marketers
ClickZ Internet Marketing Solutions for Marketers: "One of America's major direct marketers has a new value proposition 'Get Information How You Want, When You Want.' Cardholders can opt to receive awards program news, travel offers, and offers targeted to specific geographical regions."
Liens sponsorisés : eBay signe avec Google pour l'international
Liens sponsorisés : eBay signe avec Google pour l'international
Le moteur de recherche devient dès 2007 le fournisseur exclusif de liens sponsorisés sur les sites internationaux d'eBay. La place de marché avait signé un accord similaire en mai avec Yahoo pour son site américain.
Le moteur de recherche devient dès 2007 le fournisseur exclusif de liens sponsorisés sur les sites internationaux d'eBay. La place de marché avait signé un accord similaire en mai avec Yahoo pour son site américain.
Mentos and Diet Coke Into Space - Cambrian House
The Biggest Mentos/Diet Coke Geyser EVER
What's this about, you ask?
By now you've probably noticed the big Mentos countdown in the header. All of us at Cambrian House, members included, want to get into the Guinness Book of World Records. Ya ya, we know what you're thinking, there's only a gazillion Mentos and Diet Coke videos on the net - but have you ever seen an explosion using 25,001 Mentos that sends Diet Coke to SPACE??? We didn’t think so!
We're driving to have 25,001 community members by August 31st. (If you’re wondering how many members we have right now it’s 5924.) When we hit that mark, we'll detonate the biggest Mentos and Diet Coke geyser the world has EVER seen!
The Biggest Mentos/Diet Coke Geyser EVER
What's this about, you ask?
By now you've probably noticed the big Mentos countdown in the header. All of us at Cambrian House, members included, want to get into the Guinness Book of World Records. Ya ya, we know what you're thinking, there's only a gazillion Mentos and Diet Coke videos on the net - but have you ever seen an explosion using 25,001 Mentos that sends Diet Coke to SPACE??? We didn’t think so!
We're driving to have 25,001 community members by August 31st. (If you’re wondering how many members we have right now it’s 5924.) When we hit that mark, we'll detonate the biggest Mentos and Diet Coke geyser the world has EVER seen!
YouTube fait les yeux doux à Paris Hilton
YouTube fait les yeux doux à Paris Hilton
Dès aujourd'hui, YouTube dévoile sa première rubrique dédiée aux marques inaugurée par la promotion de l'album de Paris Hilton. Cette section permettra aux annonceurs tout comme aux utilisateurs de mettre en ligne leurs vidéos sur le site web.
L'objectif des Brand Channels est donc de vendre le produit concerné et YouTube apportera son aide pour faire en sorte que les internautes visitent cette section et il se pourrait même que ces rubriques aient des sortes de sponsors comme c'est le cas pour la vidéo de Paris Hilton surmontée d'une publicité pour le film Prison Break de la Fox.
La publicité entre chez YouTube
La seconde initiative qui a en fait commencé il y a environ 10 jours mais qui est officialisée en ce mardi concerne une plate-forme de vidéos participatives avec publicités ( les PVAs ). Chad Hurley, co-fondateur du portail explique :
" Ces PVAs apparaissent comme des vidéos commerciales sur la page d'accueil de YouTube que les utilisateurs peuvent noter, partager et commenter - en d'autres termes, effectuer ce qu'ils font déjà avec le contenu habituel qu'ils trouvent sur le site. "
YouTube est le site numéro un de la vidéo sur Internet, engrangeant près de 11 millions de visiteurs uniques pour la semaine du 31 juillet au 6 août, selon les estimations de Nielsen/NetRatings, soit deux fois plus que le site IMDb.com et plus de quatre fois le trafic reçu par NetFlix.com qui ferme ce top 3.
Toute la difficulté des dirigeants de YouTube va résider dans la manière dont ils rentabiliseront le portail sans irriter les nombreux fans. Les Brand Channels et les PVAs ne sont qu'un début, a prévenu Chad Hurley. " C'est le début de notre vision. Nous voulons introduire des publicités sans interrompre l'expérience utilisateur. "
YouTube, leader de la vidéo en ligne, vient d'introduire de nouveaux moyens pour les annonceurs publicitaires de profiter de la popularité du site Web tout en préservant à l'esprit l'idée d'un portail non-commercial.
Dès aujourd'hui, YouTube dévoile sa première rubrique dédiée aux marques inaugurée par la promotion de l'album de Paris Hilton. Cette section permettra aux annonceurs tout comme aux utilisateurs de mettre en ligne leurs vidéos sur le site web.
L'objectif des Brand Channels est donc de vendre le produit concerné et YouTube apportera son aide pour faire en sorte que les internautes visitent cette section et il se pourrait même que ces rubriques aient des sortes de sponsors comme c'est le cas pour la vidéo de Paris Hilton surmontée d'une publicité pour le film Prison Break de la Fox.
La publicité entre chez YouTube
La seconde initiative qui a en fait commencé il y a environ 10 jours mais qui est officialisée en ce mardi concerne une plate-forme de vidéos participatives avec publicités ( les PVAs ). Chad Hurley, co-fondateur du portail explique :
" Ces PVAs apparaissent comme des vidéos commerciales sur la page d'accueil de YouTube que les utilisateurs peuvent noter, partager et commenter - en d'autres termes, effectuer ce qu'ils font déjà avec le contenu habituel qu'ils trouvent sur le site. "
YouTube est le site numéro un de la vidéo sur Internet, engrangeant près de 11 millions de visiteurs uniques pour la semaine du 31 juillet au 6 août, selon les estimations de Nielsen/NetRatings, soit deux fois plus que le site IMDb.com et plus de quatre fois le trafic reçu par NetFlix.com qui ferme ce top 3.Toute la difficulté des dirigeants de YouTube va résider dans la manière dont ils rentabiliseront le portail sans irriter les nombreux fans. Les Brand Channels et les PVAs ne sont qu'un début, a prévenu Chad Hurley. " C'est le début de notre vision. Nous voulons introduire des publicités sans interrompre l'expérience utilisateur. "
MarketerBlog: The New Way to Customer Engagement: More Big Brands Jumping on the CGM Bandwagon
MarketerBlog: The New Way to Customer Engagement: More Big Brands Jumping on the CGM Bandwagon: "The New Way to Customer Engagement: More Big Brands Jumping on the CGM Bandwagon"
brandchannel.com | Consumer Generated Advertising | Viewer Created Adverising Messages | brand | brands | branding
brandchannel.com | Consumer Generated Advertising | Viewer Created Adverising Messages | brand | brands | branding: "Do consumers always know best?"
Do consumers always know best?
by Denise Lee Yohn
Sometimes trends are worth bucking. Take the case of the latest marketing rage: soliciting advertising from customers, also known as, V-CAMs (viewer-created ad messages). In the opinion of this brand enthusiast, danger lurks behind this strategy because it flies in the face of developing, managing, and leveraging a brand as the valuable strategic asset it is.
Last year Current TV announced Sony Electronics was airing the first V-CAM. Sony offered US$ 1,000 for the best spots, as judged by Sony, Current TV (where V-CAMs originated), and a viewer poll. Winners were posted on the Current TV site. Toyota and L’Oréal soon followed suit; these days, it seems you can’t get through an industry trade journal without reading about yet another marketer who has thrown in the creative towel in favor of “civilian” consumer generated spots.
As a short-term promotional tactic or product demonstration (for example, airing spots shot with Sony Handycams to promote the camcorders), this approach may make sense. Smaller companies with barebones marketing budgets might be forced to consider this path if the alternative is to not advertise at all. But if homemade ads are part of a sustained, concerted effort to turn over the reins of brand communication to consumers, then there is certainly cause for concern.
Lack of brand consistency is a basic reason why V-CAMs don’t make sense. Branding 101 says brand strength is developed by expressing and delivering the brand promise consistently across all touchpoints and over time. So why would a marketer want to run a bunch of ads created by different people with different messages using different creative approaches? Isn’t brand inconsistency sure to result?
Much more important, however, is the fact that these ads likely miss the opportunity to demonstrate brand leadership; that is, to express the unique and compelling brand point of view that transcends the product or service being sold. The ads everyone points to as having been the most disruptive, and therefore the most successful, are ones that represent the thought leadership of the brand. Think Apple’s 1984 commercial and Nike’s original Just Do It campaign. No consumer, no matter how talented or cool or brand fanatical, would have ever come up with those ads.
This is because consumers know what they know at the moment—they know why they like a product—but they don’t know the vision of the brand. They don’t know the company’s dreams and aspirations for the brand, and so they lack the insight and foresight to realize an ad’s full potential. Their ads may be cute or clever, but they won’t further brand leadership. Just as product development should be consumer-informed, so should creative development. But innovative, game-changing companies don’t ask consumers to actually develop new products for them; they shouldn’t ask consumers to develop ads for them either.
Resorting to consumer-generated ads also signals a fundamental problem in the company that solicits them. Part of the benefit of the creative development process is the internal discipline it requires and the unity it creates. A team that takes the time to develop a campaign (to do the hard work of distilling down everything that could possibly be said about a brand into a simple, single message) and to search for a way of expressing the message that is worthy of the brand is all the better for it.
The debates and tradeoffs inherent in the creative process result in a clarity on and commitment to the brand. This clear, consistent, common understanding of the brand serves the company well in everything else it does. Companies that side step this valuable process and simply screen consumers’ ads like judges of a beauty contest are cheating themselves (and all their stakeholders, including customers) out of the critical benefits of internal brand integration and alignment.
Now, I’m not questioning the effectiveness of some brands’ consumer-created ads. Converse and MasterCard stand out as companies that have not sacrificed brand consistency, thought leadership, or alignment in their efforts to engage their consumer base in fresh, interactive ways. And before you accuse me of being some old ad agency type pining away for the good ol’ times, let me tell you, I’m not. I’ll be the first to assert that the old advertising model is broken and creative teams need a big wake up call. But that wake up call needs to come from the clients, not consumers, and therein lies the fundamental reason why V-CAMs are a mistake.
Brands are the responsibilities of the companies that produce them. Companies are ultimately responsible for the perceptions of and relationships with consumers that brands develop. Although the consumer now has more information than ever on which to base her brand perceptions, and she is in more control of the brand relationships, it remains the marketer’s role to shape and nurture brand image and equity.
As the late Geoffrey Frost of Nike and Motorola fame urged, “Look at your communications as your most pervasive product.” Inherent in this exhortation is the truth that consumers “consume” advertising. If you craft an amazing message and deliver it brilliantly, the brand-to-consumer relationship is propelled forward. Conversely, failing to nurture and protect your brand communications can derail all efforts.
In the blogosphere, consumer-generated content thrives. So even if companies don’t solicit V-CAMs, they’ll still be created. And that’s okay. But actively pursuing consumer-generated advertising as a marketing strategy is a lazy and irresponsible approach to branding.
Airfare Predictions, Find Cheap Airline Tickets - Farecast
Airfare Predictions, Find Cheap Airline Tickets - Farecast: "Know Where to Buy – Airfare Search
You book directly with airline sites to avoid booking fees and earn more bonus miles.
You book directly with airline sites to avoid booking fees and earn more bonus miles.
Know When to Buy – Airfare Predictions
We help you decide if you should buy now or wait.
Know Where to Buy – Airfare Search
You book directly with airline sites to avoid booking fees and earn more bonus miles.
With online fan input, 'Snakes' crosses a line
With online fan input, 'Snakes' crosses a line
August 17, 2006
Snakes. Snakes on a plane. What more do you need to know?
Times Argus: Vermont News & Information
August 17, 2006
By Ty Burr Boston Globe
"Snakes on a Plane" opens Friday at multiplexes around the country. Whether it's a good movie or a dreadful movie is, to everybody except the beancounters at New Line Cinema, beside the point. Even they may be in on the joke, though: There have been no advance screenings of the $30 million high-flying action film, for critics or anyone else, not (the studio claims) because the movie stinks from the neck down but because what's most fun about "Snakes" has been the Internet-driven hype that surrounds it. That hype comes down to one thing: the boneheaded comic purity of the movie's title.Snakes. Snakes on a plane. What more do you need to know?
Times Argus: Vermont News & Information
Cabspotting: an alternate view of a living city
Cabspotting: an alternate view of a living city
A group of designers and programmers led by Eric Rodenbeck of the mind-blowing Stamen Design firm created the wonderful Cabspotting.org, an online art experience that traces the movement of San Francisco's GPS-enabled Yellow Cabs as they move through the city. It's part of the Exploratorium's larger Invisible Dynamics initiative to "reveal radically surprising and inspiring views of the systems interconnecting the communities of the Bay." The Exploratoirum is also encouraging the creation of artist's projects, basically novel mash-ups of the same data that drives Cabspotting.org's real-time cab tracking (image at left) and time lapse (still frame at right) visualizations. This is stunning work.
http://cabspotting.org/
Adidas White viral spot
r255g255b255.net is the URL hosting a new Adidas spot created by Tronic Studio.
"Jenna Jameson flexes her muscles as never before as a mallet wheeling, white clad, arcade obsessed femme-fatale in this viral spot for Adidas. Conceived, directed and animated by NYC creative collective Tronic this spot gives a whole new meaning to being hit over the head."
"Jenna Jameson flexes her muscles as never before as a mallet wheeling, white clad, arcade obsessed femme-fatale in this viral spot for Adidas. Conceived, directed and animated by NYC creative collective Tronic this spot gives a whole new meaning to being hit over the head."
Toyota.com : Vehicles : Camry
Toyota.com : Vehicles : Camry
When a car becomes more, it surprises you at every turn. It rejuvenates the senses with every passing mile. And it delivers you to your destination feeling more refreshed than when you started out. Because every new Camry, whether it's the race-inspired SE, the impeccable XLE or the ultra-efficient Camry Hybrid, is engineered to change not just the way you feel about cars, but the way you feel, period.
When a car becomes more, it surprises you at every turn. It rejuvenates the senses with every passing mile. And it delivers you to your destination feeling more refreshed than when you started out. Because every new Camry, whether it's the race-inspired SE, the impeccable XLE or the ultra-efficient Camry Hybrid, is engineered to change not just the way you feel about cars, but the way you feel, period.
adidas | adicolor
adidas | adicolor
In 1983, adidas introduced a totally original concept to the world of sportswear-adicolor. Specially created all-white footwear models were presented alongside weatherproof and quick drying markers!
Today, adicolor returns in a sophisticated interpretation of the original concept.
In 1983, adidas introduced a totally original concept to the world of sportswear-adicolor. Specially created all-white footwear models were presented alongside weatherproof and quick drying markers!
Today, adicolor returns in a sophisticated interpretation of the original concept.
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