Weaving through the throngs of St. Patrick’s Day revelers at the Hoboken, N.J., parade earlier this month was the usual turnout that you’d expect for an event like this — local girls wearing green-beaded necklaces and green-tinted sunglasses, frat boys in green-felt top hats and tape-on leprechaun beards, and sturdy men stomping the asphalt in kilts. There was a lot of singing, of course, and a lot of beer. It was, in other words, a standard holiday turnout.
When it comes to rich media ads on the Internet that employ video, engagement matters enormously. Environment, not so much.
That’s the major and in some ways surprising take-away from a new study conducted by VideoEgg and comScore.
The study examined the effectiveness of rich media video ads vs. traditional banners. The goal was to prove the theory that banner ads containing video are more engaging. In addition, the study gauged whether site environment — particularly contextual relevance — played a role in how well such ads performed. Continue reading
Two of the nation’s biggest department stores — Macy’s and Sears — are using social media to drive prom sales for the first time this year.
Sears this month launched the Ultimate Prom Experience, a microsite dedicated to helping teens find the perfect dress. The site, accessible at Sears.com/prom, includes features such as a “Find out your prom [dress] personality” quiz, hair and makeup tips, a list of the 10 hottest trends, and a $1,000 sweepstakes. Quiz takers may also share and post the results on Facebook or Twitter.
Microsoft used a speaking slot provided by the Association of National Advertisers to open a broad assault on rival Google, accusing the Web giant of using its market clout to the detriment of advertisers.
Microsoft deputy general counsel Mary Snapp laid out her company’s case to advertisers gathered in Washington, D.C., today for the ANA Advertising Law & Public Policy Conference, which Microsoft sponsored. Ironically, Microsoft based its criticisms on Google’s size in the market, mirroring charges leveled against the software firm in the 1990s.
The Holy Grail for many marketers is having their big-budget TV spot become a viral hit online, providing millions of dollars worth of free exposure from consumer pass-along.
The bad news is the chance of this happening is pretty slim, and even if it does, there’s a good chance the spot won’t do much to persuade viewers.
Those are the conclusions of a Millward Brown study of TV commercials posted online. The researcher found that less than 15 percent of 102 ads studied were viral hits. (Millward Brown defines a viral hit as a spot that generates more than 1,000 views per week in the United Kingdom market or 5,000 in the U.S.) In other words, for every Old Spice “The man your man could smell like” spot that has generated more than 4.5 million YouTube views, there are five duds. Continue reading
While some people blithely put all sorts of personal information online, a seven-country Financial Times/Harris Poll finds plenty of others worried about what might happen to their data.
One question in the survey (conducted online last month) asked people to say how concerned they are “about the amount and security of personal online data that can be accessed by search engines you use.” In the U.S., 24 percent said they’re “very concerned” about this. The “very concerned” tally was higher in China (26 percent), but a bit lower in Spain (24 percent) and France (23 percent). It was lower still in Britain and Germany (17 percent each), and lowest of all in Italy (11 percent). Adding in the “somewhat concerned” votes, Germany and Italy were the only countries in which a majority of respondents didn’t voice at least that much worry about this matter. Continue reading
Wendy’s is attempting to insinuate itself into this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament with a social media push designed to create real-life parties.
The fast feeder has worked with The Kaplan Thaler Group for Facebook- and Twitter-based promos dangling gift cards for boneless wings to consumers who organize viewing parties using the social networks. The Facebook effort gives away $50 gift cards to 100 such consumers at random.
The Audit Bureau of Circulations, anticipating the growth of e-reading devices like the Apple iPad, has expanded its definition of digital magazines to accommodate the shift.
The ABC originally defined a digital magazine as an exact replica of the printed version, and had in mind magazines delivered on PCs, not the forthcoming tablets with their wide range of interactive and multimedia capabilities.
The government may soon wield a great deal more power over the online advertising business, and that’s quickly spreading fear across the entire ecosystem, including publishers, ad networks, agencies and even their clients.
Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) is set to introduce a consumer privacy bill over the next few weeks that will likely impact the entire $25 billion online ad market, according to sources.
In the great Facebook fan rush of 2009, Skittles stood out. The Wrigley brand was able to accumulate a staggering 3.6 million connections. This gave the brand an opportunity to message this audience — but not much more.
Last month, it decided to get real. Skittles kicked off “Mob the Rainbow,” a social media campaign that turns loose its virtual friends on the real world in service of fun challenges. To start, over 45,000 Skittles fans created Valentine’s Day cards for an unsuspecting traffic enforcement officer in San Francisco. Skittles filmed the encounter and posted it on Facebook, bringing the effort full circle from digital to physical back to digital. It led to another boost in Facebook fans, with nearly 500,000 added in a month.
Are you interesting in how to make realistic view scotch tape by using Photoshop tools? If yes, then I will teach you how to make it. I got this effect by experimenting.
via How to Create Scotch Tape in Photoshop
For Snow Leopard Users
If you have noticed, whenever you press F9 key to activate Exposé, you will see a rather different Exposé from Mac OS X Leopard. And upon mouse over on one of the item, you can see blue glowing effect.Today, we are going to bring you to tweak on the glow color to your liking.
via UsingMac.com – Mac Tricks and Tips, Wallpapers and Applications for Mac Users.
These shortcuts are for U.S. Keyboard as input source.
Some of these symbols cannot be seen.
via UsingMac.com – Mac Tricks and Tips, Wallpapers and Applications for Mac Users.
We have a love-hate relationship with technology. It’s quite possibly the largest boon we’ve ever had as marketers in terms of making our lives so much better, easier, faster, and even cheaper. Unfortunately, it’s the “easier” and “cheaper” parts that distract us to a fault.
We look to automate.
We look to scale.
We look to simplify.
We look to reduce.
Unfortunately life itself is not simple. Relationships are not algorithms; they’re intricate bonds built and reinforced through empathy, consistency, and commitment. Trust is not automatic; it’s earned over time. Our customers are not one’s and zero’s; they’re humans just like us.
via Will the New Marketing Revolution be Automated? | TalentZoo.com.
When Monster Media recently installed four giant interactive displays at Los Angeles International Airport on behalf of JCDecaux North America, it was the first of its kind for the airport — and also the latest indication that digital out-of-home is breaking the sound barrier in the air travel space.
“We now have about 22 systems in U.S. airports, and an additional 15 to 20 will go in before the end of the year,” says John Payne, president of Monster. The company’s interactive campaigns in airports have included displays where Travelers Insurance umbrellas multiply and contract as people walk by, and where snow blows across giant bottles of Coors Lite in a similar fashion.
via OOH Takes Flight.
Jason Uzarraga 