The jury is in: two of the leading apps that unleashed the power of the web are dead (or soon to be dead).
Maybe not news to some that spend more than 15 seconds following trends in marketing communication, but anyone with a sense of intuition can see the writing on the walls...which are now typically limited to #'s and no more than 100 or so characters.
Email: As reported in today's NYT "..the number of visitors to web-based email sites (Gmail, Yahoo!, etc.) declined 5.9% from Nov 2009 to Nov 2010, according to comScore. That decline reflects the spread of email devices (e.g. iPhones) which do no need to log onto the Web to see messages; the number of people who use mobile devices to check e-mail rose 40% during the same period.."
More predictive: 24% fewer people age 12-17 used web-based email during the same period. This means that the new generation rising up through the ranks into adulthood, and presumably jobs (lets hope!), will have adapted completely different forms of communication than the current workforce.
Other than using email to transmit corporate communications and the most formal correspondences, Facebook (and other social networks), txt'ing and Tumbling on Tumblr will displace email altogether by the year 2015.
Bloggers are bygone. From 2000-2009, we told our corporate clients "if you don't have a blog, and if you're not maintaining it consistently, your competitors will be eating your lunch.." This was (arguably) sage advice.
If you're accustomed to changing your underwear, its time to change your 'blogging" strategy; tumble over to Tumblr; a move advocated by Web guru Rex Sorgatz, along with tens of dozens of the most highly-regarded internet gurus. Why?
Simple Math: Social media has killed the ironic or iconic blog "headline"; exponentially more traffic today comes from headlines distributed on Facebook, Twitter and other short-form media-communication apps.
On the topic of simple math: We've insinuated, if not insisted that intuitive marketing strategies will soon be displaced by quant-based predictive applications.
Lo and behold, according to Sunil Gupta, a Harvard Business School professor who teaches digital marketing, "Marketers are moving away from intrusion strategies that use ads running in the middle of TV programs to a more cooperative model in which they try to stimulate discussion across social networks. In the traditional world, marketing used to focus on the middle part of the bell curve and reaching out to them. Now, the way to reach out to the middle part is through the extreme ends of the curve..."
If you're a marcom guru that's over 40 and you don't already have a mobile device that keeps you connected and in touch, its not too late to get on the bus before it rolls over you. And it will, trust me.
Monday, February 07, 2011
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Sight & Sound Trumpet Syntax: The New Normal for Marcom
A simple picture is worth a thousand words, an adage that was coined more than 100 years ago, and its one we've been trumpeting for almost as long.
Its not what you say, its how you say it, and images are indisputably the most compelling form of communication.
And, as noted here more than a few times, delivering a corporate brand message or a public service message via image (whether it be a single picture, a montage of images, or a crisp video) delivers exponentially greater brand recall than any combination of words that the best word-smith can pen. Below images are courtesy of various sources and promote various products and messages (btw..thanks to the creative people at Viagra for the top middle photo)
Lo and behold, in today's NY Times, reporter Ashlee Vance profiles the trend from the perspective of industrial manufacturers that support this ever-burgeoning story with her snapshot: "Graphics Ability is the New Goal For Chip Makers":
"..In the good old days, it was all about speed. Computer chip makers like Intel and Advanced Micro Devices tried to outdo each other by putting out ever faster chips, and then by improving battery life and making smaller, cheaper laptops.
These days, though, it’s all about graphics and how well computers can process and display photos, videos and other types of media. And the competition is putting marketing departments to the test..."
By some forecasts, video will account for about 90 percent of all consumer Internet traffic by 2013.
According to the Chief Marketing Officer for Intel, “We think the new norm is this constant visual experience.”
Here's a strong example of one corporate video clip:
Its not what you say, its how you say it, and images are indisputably the most compelling form of communication.
And, as noted here more than a few times, delivering a corporate brand message or a public service message via image (whether it be a single picture, a montage of images, or a crisp video) delivers exponentially greater brand recall than any combination of words that the best word-smith can pen. Below images are courtesy of various sources and promote various products and messages (btw..thanks to the creative people at Viagra for the top middle photo)
Lo and behold, in today's NY Times, reporter Ashlee Vance profiles the trend from the perspective of industrial manufacturers that support this ever-burgeoning story with her snapshot: "Graphics Ability is the New Goal For Chip Makers":
"..In the good old days, it was all about speed. Computer chip makers like Intel and Advanced Micro Devices tried to outdo each other by putting out ever faster chips, and then by improving battery life and making smaller, cheaper laptops.
These days, though, it’s all about graphics and how well computers can process and display photos, videos and other types of media. And the competition is putting marketing departments to the test..."
By some forecasts, video will account for about 90 percent of all consumer Internet traffic by 2013.
According to the Chief Marketing Officer for Intel, “We think the new norm is this constant visual experience.”
Here's a strong example of one corporate video clip:
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Marketing High Tech Gadgets
Now that social media apps, along with all of those high-tech gadgets to support them have become ubiquitous across every demographic, including the over-65 crowd, this clip struck a funny-bone.
Warning: Put on your F-bomb helmet before viewing (even if F-bombs are no longer considered WMD's in the world of marketing and communications).
Warning: Put on your F-bomb helmet before viewing (even if F-bombs are no longer considered WMD's in the world of marketing and communications).
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Predictions For 2011-Ahead of the Curve
As 2010 comes to a close, this is the time for prognosticators and pundits to offer their predictions i.e. what's going to be hot in 2011.
Striking to us that the thought leadership gurus are all in agreement on at least one 'game changer": video applications for businesses. We've been shouting about this for the past two years; only proving that we're prescient, even if the technology isn't quite ready for prime time. But, it is now.
According to a study by Verizon: Video will be among the most engaging business applications to take advantage of higher-capacity wireless networks for face-to face and face-to-machine.
In its Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2011 report, Gartner says: Video is not a new media form, but its use as a standard media type used in non-media companies is expanding rapidly. Technology trends in digital photography, consumer electronics, the web, social software, unified communications, digital and Internet-based television and mobile computing are all reaching critical tipping points that bring video into the mainstream. Over the next three years Gartner believes that video will become a commonplace content type and interaction model for most users, and by 2013, more than 25 percent of the content that workers see in a day will be dominated by pictures, video or audio.
Obviously, the gray-beards that first pooh-poohed social networking as merely a "gimmick for college kids" have been scrambling throughout 2010 to secure a seat at the client's table, so its obvious that social media applications for business enterprise use will remain in the pole position for 2011.
For those gray beards that haven't lost their jobs this year, my prediction is that you'd better bone up on social network apps and video apps, or buy yourself a box of dinosaur crackers.
Striking to us that the thought leadership gurus are all in agreement on at least one 'game changer": video applications for businesses. We've been shouting about this for the past two years; only proving that we're prescient, even if the technology isn't quite ready for prime time. But, it is now.
According to a study by Verizon: Video will be among the most engaging business applications to take advantage of higher-capacity wireless networks for face-to face and face-to-machine.
In its Top 10 Strategic Technologies for 2011 report, Gartner says: Video is not a new media form, but its use as a standard media type used in non-media companies is expanding rapidly. Technology trends in digital photography, consumer electronics, the web, social software, unified communications, digital and Internet-based television and mobile computing are all reaching critical tipping points that bring video into the mainstream. Over the next three years Gartner believes that video will become a commonplace content type and interaction model for most users, and by 2013, more than 25 percent of the content that workers see in a day will be dominated by pictures, video or audio.
Obviously, the gray-beards that first pooh-poohed social networking as merely a "gimmick for college kids" have been scrambling throughout 2010 to secure a seat at the client's table, so its obvious that social media applications for business enterprise use will remain in the pole position for 2011.
For those gray beards that haven't lost their jobs this year, my prediction is that you'd better bone up on social network apps and video apps, or buy yourself a box of dinosaur crackers.
Monday, December 13, 2010
PR Agent Personified
Some PR Agencies are a real crack-up. Humor is as humor does, courtesy of pal Jane Wells
Friday, December 03, 2010
Mobile Marketing: Food Trucks Offer Tasty Guerilla Tactics to Swallow
You've heard about this idea: using food-vending trucks to burnish brands. Its an OOH strategy that's been written about and employed for months.
The fact that the NYT wrote a piece last week is only because a Forbes blogger wrote about it the week before, and that posting was preceded by a dozen other media observations over the past year.
That said, you know its a really great idea when Trojan takes over a bunch of independent trucks hawking fresh oysters and clams on the half shell!
No, it hasn't happened yet. Here's a Shout Out to Bruce Fleming at Church & Dwight: We'd be happy to execute that strategy on your behalf! Oh Boy!--we can think of plenty of easy-to-swallow brain teasing tag lines for that campaign!
The fact that the NYT wrote a piece last week is only because a Forbes blogger wrote about it the week before, and that posting was preceded by a dozen other media observations over the past year.
That said, you know its a really great idea when Trojan takes over a bunch of independent trucks hawking fresh oysters and clams on the half shell!
No, it hasn't happened yet. Here's a Shout Out to Bruce Fleming at Church & Dwight: We'd be happy to execute that strategy on your behalf! Oh Boy!--we can think of plenty of easy-to-swallow brain teasing tag lines for that campaign!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Social Media and Corporate Communications: The Genie is out of the Bottle
For all of those companies large and small that now embrace the use of social media apps to extend their brand image and brand message, you're no doubt employing dedicated marketing teams composed of 20-somethings to tweet away (and respond to twits that are bad-tweeting you), as well as manage facebook/your-company-name pages, and other social media messaging.
For those of you that are encouraging your employees to use these same tools via their personal facebook pages, or their personal tweets, well, the genie is out of the bottle. You've now abrogated control of the message and the mood, and you're hoping that your employees are savvy enough to insert the appropriate messages on behalf of your company (without having been subjected to a training program specific to "how to position us via social media platforms).
Lets not forget about employees that might be using social media apps to vent their frustrations, or perhaps leak certain bits of corporate intelligence that's not intended for distribution outside the company's four walls.
There are a growing number of third-party applications that can deliver social media messages via a single dashboard, and can therefore log who is saying what from inside your company. More common: applications (very inexpensive) that sniff across the internet and locate any/all messages that pertain to your brand. "Engage121" is one good example...
Obviously, consumer brands should view these monitoring apps as a must have. For financial service companies, or any other enterprise that's regulated by government entities, the ability to keep your finger on the pulse of who is chattering (or tweeting) about your brand, what they're saying, and why they're saying it is integral to maintaining your competitive edge.
In the old days, they called it Business Intelligence. In today's world, its simply Smart Business.
Nextpoint's "Cloud Preservation" app and "SocialLogix" are just two software companies that purportedly provide these types of tools.
For those of you that are encouraging your employees to use these same tools via their personal facebook pages, or their personal tweets, well, the genie is out of the bottle. You've now abrogated control of the message and the mood, and you're hoping that your employees are savvy enough to insert the appropriate messages on behalf of your company (without having been subjected to a training program specific to "how to position us via social media platforms).
Lets not forget about employees that might be using social media apps to vent their frustrations, or perhaps leak certain bits of corporate intelligence that's not intended for distribution outside the company's four walls.
There are a growing number of third-party applications that can deliver social media messages via a single dashboard, and can therefore log who is saying what from inside your company. More common: applications (very inexpensive) that sniff across the internet and locate any/all messages that pertain to your brand. "Engage121" is one good example...
Obviously, consumer brands should view these monitoring apps as a must have. For financial service companies, or any other enterprise that's regulated by government entities, the ability to keep your finger on the pulse of who is chattering (or tweeting) about your brand, what they're saying, and why they're saying it is integral to maintaining your competitive edge.
In the old days, they called it Business Intelligence. In today's world, its simply Smart Business.
Nextpoint's "Cloud Preservation" app and "SocialLogix" are just two software companies that purportedly provide these types of tools.
Neuromarketing 101-Making Ads That Whisper to the Brain
Three weeks ago, (via LinkedIn update) we spotlighted an interesting text book "The Buying Brain," authored by A.K. Pradeep, the founder/ceo of NeuroFocus, and detailing the science of neuromarketing within the world of advertising and brand strategy.
Lo and behold, this Sunday's NY Times afforded writer Natasha Singer a half-page in the Business Section ("Slipstream") to report on this exact same burgeoning science. OK, we're not saying that we're prescient per se, merely that we're pretty good on keeping our finger on the pulse of techniques that might be game changers.
What is neuromarketing? At its most basic, engineers are utilizing brainwave responses to certain stimuli, and these responses purportedly mitigate the need to conduct traditional [and arguably unreliable] focus studies with respect to the success (or lack of) specific advertising creative developed by ad agencies.
For example, scientific brainwave studies have determined that print ads (and consumer package labels) trigger the most important responses when they include photo elements, and when said images are placed to the left, and syntax (copy) are placed to the right.
Another finding: "novelty" within ad design is a winning approach. JetBlue is a brand that wins awards for novelty...messages that inspire thought, humor, ambiguity, and even those that intentionally incorporate "error" are, according to "marketing neurologists", considerably more effective than plain vanilla mainstream ads that might have been conceived by Don Draper's uncreative counterparts.
"Buying Brain" dedicates several chapters to what works and what doesn't when marketing to the most sought after demographic: Moms. To my friends at MomsTown.com; this book should be required reading for you and your mayors!
Lo and behold, this Sunday's NY Times afforded writer Natasha Singer a half-page in the Business Section ("Slipstream") to report on this exact same burgeoning science. OK, we're not saying that we're prescient per se, merely that we're pretty good on keeping our finger on the pulse of techniques that might be game changers.
What is neuromarketing? At its most basic, engineers are utilizing brainwave responses to certain stimuli, and these responses purportedly mitigate the need to conduct traditional [and arguably unreliable] focus studies with respect to the success (or lack of) specific advertising creative developed by ad agencies.
For example, scientific brainwave studies have determined that print ads (and consumer package labels) trigger the most important responses when they include photo elements, and when said images are placed to the left, and syntax (copy) are placed to the right.
Another finding: "novelty" within ad design is a winning approach. JetBlue is a brand that wins awards for novelty...messages that inspire thought, humor, ambiguity, and even those that intentionally incorporate "error" are, according to "marketing neurologists", considerably more effective than plain vanilla mainstream ads that might have been conceived by Don Draper's uncreative counterparts.
"Buying Brain" dedicates several chapters to what works and what doesn't when marketing to the most sought after demographic: Moms. To my friends at MomsTown.com; this book should be required reading for you and your mayors!
Monday, November 01, 2010
#Negative PR is a Positive? Yes. No. Maybe.
There’s no such thing as bad publicity — better that people are talking about your brand than not, period..
An old cliche, for sure. And, its topic that's inspired great spirited debate (often over late afternoon spirits) for generations of Madmen. Its even one that this blogger subscribes to most days of the week.
A must read article on the age-old question “Can negative publicity actually have a positive effect?” can be found by Rob Walker in this past Sunday's NYT Magazine section.
Walker's article--which references a recent scientific study on the topic, strikes to the heart when reflecting on a recent GAP Inc. PR episode; one in which the icon clothier took steps to make a dramatic change to their corporate logo, and encountered big blow back from fans. Taking two steps back, GAP then announced they would not in fact change the logo (despite having spent only how much cash on a brand re-burnishing initiative.
Walker posits: "What’s the real impact of such a P.R. misstep? Marketing and business experts constantly warn about the dangers of ending up on the wrong side of public opinion, particularly in the age of social media, when gripes and mockery seem to explode overnight.."
You don't have to be Lloyd Blankfein to click on the title link to read the full article..(Hats off to Rob Walker!
An old cliche, for sure. And, its topic that's inspired great spirited debate (often over late afternoon spirits) for generations of Madmen. Its even one that this blogger subscribes to most days of the week.
A must read article on the age-old question “Can negative publicity actually have a positive effect?” can be found by Rob Walker in this past Sunday's NYT Magazine section.
Walker's article--which references a recent scientific study on the topic, strikes to the heart when reflecting on a recent GAP Inc. PR episode; one in which the icon clothier took steps to make a dramatic change to their corporate logo, and encountered big blow back from fans. Taking two steps back, GAP then announced they would not in fact change the logo (despite having spent only how much cash on a brand re-burnishing initiative.
Walker posits: "What’s the real impact of such a P.R. misstep? Marketing and business experts constantly warn about the dangers of ending up on the wrong side of public opinion, particularly in the age of social media, when gripes and mockery seem to explode overnight.."
You don't have to be Lloyd Blankfein to click on the title link to read the full article..(Hats off to Rob Walker!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
White House Embraces Online Corporate Videos aka "Sizzle Reels":
However self-serving this posting might seem to those professional service firms that the author has solicited (to produce sizzle reels for their respective web sites (and large audience presentations), per story in today's NYT the fact that the White House is now embracing this strategy should speak volumes to those that have been deaf to my "screaming".
I'm not opining on the content of White House Economist Austin Goolbee's presentation, even if Austin shares my penchant for doing stand-up comedy. [Economists, in my humble opinion, rank right up there with stock traders that rest their laurels on technical analysis; they're chart readers. Charts and graphs tell you what happened yesterday, but are not necessarily accurate road maps to what's going to happen tomorrow.
See my post "Don't Be a Twit.." to appreciate that we've frequently been in the advance army when it comes to embracing new media applications for businesses. The clip below is just another piece of illustrative evidence as to the relevance and importance of using video to broadcast your message in today's world.
I'm not opining on the content of White House Economist Austin Goolbee's presentation, even if Austin shares my penchant for doing stand-up comedy. [Economists, in my humble opinion, rank right up there with stock traders that rest their laurels on technical analysis; they're chart readers. Charts and graphs tell you what happened yesterday, but are not necessarily accurate road maps to what's going to happen tomorrow.
See my post "Don't Be a Twit.." to appreciate that we've frequently been in the advance army when it comes to embracing new media applications for businesses. The clip below is just another piece of illustrative evidence as to the relevance and importance of using video to broadcast your message in today's world.
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