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Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Digital Web Magazine - Competitive Analysis:
Every industry has its own version of the competitive analysis and its function is clear: to line up your product with other products and show where yours falls short and where yours is superior. Each industry brings a different spin to this old favorite and user experience design has its own set of criteria by which to judge competitors.
Posted by Jason Elsmore
9:39 AM
0 comments  
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Get the download on ICANN's proposal to charge "market rates" on domain renewals. In some respects, I think that this can be likened to property taxes based on the appraised value of real estate in the offline world.
Posted by Reid
11:21 AM
0 comments
Russian models or Brazilian models? Life’s most challenging and unending debates are posed on tequila maker Patron’s new microsite.
The site does a great job of carrying through the Patron brand and uses a simple Flash application that is easy and fun to use. It encourages user participation by allowing visitors to post their views on ever important questions such as “the party or the after party?”.
One thing I would have liked to see was a question pitting the different Patron products against each other. Patron Silver or Patron Reposado? For me, I would have to say neither. Tequila always leads to Trouble with a capital T.
Join the debate at http://simplyperfect.com.
Posted by sandra
10:05 AM
0 comments
Advertising Age - Digital - Commentary: Marketing to YouTube Nation
What's the newest trend in connecting brands to consumers?
Put your brand on YouTube.
Click here to see how our friends at freedomtales.com shared their brand with the YouTube audience.
Posted by Michelle Preston
9:23 AM
0 comments
Monday, August 28, 2006
Chinese businesses are market savvy when it comes to search advertising. Leading research firm China Computerworld Research reports that Chinese firms have spent 1.72 billion yuan ($215 million U.S.) in keyword advertising on major Chinese search sites for the first half of 2006. Chinese search engines include Baidu, Yahoo and Google.
CCW Research reports a 53 percent increase in PPC revenues in China for the first half of 2006 over the previous period last year. Capitalism is alive and well as Chinese firms invest in marketing and increase their advertising budgets.
Research experts believe search engine marketing is poised for growth with over 20 million Chinese firms as potential PPC customers. Consumers online in China represent only 9 percent of the huge population but there is a 447 percent usage growth rate with 123 million users online now.
More info
Posted by Paul J. Bruemmer
9:24 AM
0 comments
Friday, August 25, 2006
The global online ad spend will reach $11.6 billion this year, a 35 percent growth rate that surpasses an earlier forecast of 33 percent growth (Merrill Lynch).
The report predicts China will achieve the highest online ad spend growth (50%). The UK is second (46.4%). Other growth rates for online ad spending: France (45%), Australia (42.6%), South Korea (30.5%) and Japan (30%).
Merrill Lynch reports that Google is big in Europe with over 70 percent market share in the UK, Germany and Italy, three key markets.
More info
Posted by Paul J. Bruemmer
6:37 PM
0 comments
Last week the Humane Society accused Ben & Jerry's of animal cruelty. For a company who's core brand values are rooted in social, economic and environmental justice this was a big hit.
Failing to respond to this accusation on the company's Web site is a missed opportunity for Ben & Jerry's to mitigate brand damage and does nothing to recoup trust of loyal customers. In other words, customers and journalist are looking for information from a credible source, but Ben & Jerry's has chosen not to deliver.
Posted by Charles
11:08 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
in another "monkey-see-monkey-do" maneveur, microsoft duplicates strategies from another market leader.
"Microsoft's deal with Facebook comes on the heels of a similar agreement between social networking site MySpace.com and search engine Google Inc."
Posted by brian_tsang
1:22 PM
0 comments
The Marketing Experiments Journal (MEJ) compared PPC campaigns on Yahoo and MSN, reporting that 3 out of 4 campaigns got substantially lower cost-per-action (CPA) with MSN.
Everybody has been wondering about campaign performance with MSN since adCenter went live earlier this year. The MEJ tested Yahoo vs. MSN. Might have been nice to also include Google AdWords.
Of the sites chosen for the test of PPC ads, results showed little difference in conversion rates but the CPA was lower by an average of $38.24 (over 60%) for MSN vs. Yahoo in 3 out of 4 cases.
Why a lower CPA with MSN? Mostly because fewer marketers are using MSN so there’s less competition for keywords. Also the minimum bid is 5 cents rather than 10 cents.
More Info
Posted by Paul J. Bruemmer
8:40 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Following the MySpace model, YouTube is now allowing advertisers to promote their brands via a customized channel. Similar to MySpace, advertisers can work with YouTube to customize their channels after meeting pre-determined spending quotas.
One of the first to take advantage of this new opportunity is Paris Hilton who is promoting her eponymous album: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ParisHilton. Let’s not let the whole Paris thing however taint our view of YouTube’s new endeavor…YouTube’s popularity is growing by the minute and advertisers will undoubtedly be clamoring to get a piece of this user-generated pie. The site's popularity will definitely outlast Paris Hilton's singing career, that I can confidently guarantee.
Posted by sandra
3:33 PM
0 comments
Thursday, August 17, 2006
YouTube Top 50 Properties - comScore
comScore Media Metrix stats show that 173.2M Americans were online in July. The top online properties for U.S. consumer activity were Yahoo (129.4M unique visitors), Time Warner (121M), Microsoft (117.8M), Google (103.9M), eBay (75.8M) and MySpace (54.5M).
YouTube made the top 50 in 40th place with 16M unique visitors, which was taken as a sign that online video is now mainstream. The top video site is Yahoo Video with 21M visitors, followed by MySpace Videos with 20M visitors.
Top categories visited include politics, lotto/sweepstakes, education, gambling and regional/local.
More info
Posted by Paul J. Bruemmer
8:54 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Do we need creative no-fly zones?
Tonight on the way home, I saw a bus shelter ad promoting a movie about 9/11. I cringed. It’s too soon, it’s too early. (But then again, the Deer Hunter came out just three years after Viet Nam.) Soon will come the ABC-TV Movie of the Week. Then what’s next – some furniture store company promoting “September Blow-out Savings.”
Oh that will never happen you say. Quick, hurry, do you know what you’re supposed to be remembering on Memorial Day, date of great retail sales?
Is there a need for creative no-fly zones? (A phrased borrowed from ad culture guru Ernie Schenck.) Are there places we just shouldn’t go. And if so, who determines them?
On the web, last year one of the most successful viral events was a bogus ad for a car manufacturer created by two creatives who wanted a job with the manufacturer’s agency. No, we won’t blog it. No, they didn’t get the job. In fact, the auto manufacturer is now suing those two creatives. I admit, it’s funny. But tasteless (like the Volvo ads that ran briefly in Asia after Princess Diana’s tragic death in a Benz, or what it a BMW?)
As an advertising creative, I’ve won my share of awards for exploding buildings, breast feeding and farts. It’s true, shock is memorable, shock is attention getting, shock wins awards. But sometimes it isn’t appropriate.
Posted by Anne McColl
5:18 PM
0 comments
On one hand, I ask, "Why?" and on the other hand, if Google wants to get beyond "search" and into a lot of other businesses as they are, they may need to distance themselves from their name being synonomous with search regardless of the specific tool. Attacking the media may have been the best perceived tactic of breaking this habit, or maybe they could go into the business of promoting Yahoo or MSN's search ;).
"I Yahoo'd Google and all I got was MSN."
Posted by Reid
11:06 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
When people think Kansas City they think barbeque – I think Edward Tufte. He doesn’t live there now, but Excel charts inspired by his genius can be found here.
Posted by Charles
1:08 PM
0 comments
Experts have been saying that online ads lead to offline purchases but it’s been hard to quantify. Now Google is providing a new service that can help provide some insight. Merchants will be able to distribute coupons that consumers can print from Google Maps when they search for an offline establishment.
Merchants who participate will get an icon next to their listings on Google Maps. Consumers will click an icon to print the coupons. Google displays business listings alongside its map of searched addresses. The listings come from directory services and merchant submissions.
Google plans to extend the service to AdWords advertisers, and you won’t need a website to participate because Google will give you a coupon page that can be used as a landing page to your PPC ad.
More info:
Posted by Paul J. Bruemmer
9:42 AM
0 comments
I just had to post this for all of you pharmaceutical marketers. In most cases, I don't think it is anything you didn't already know, but it is probably useful for some marketing presentation that you'll eventually have to give.
Posted by Reid
9:07 AM
0 comments
Monday, August 14, 2006
Stepping on the long tail, Jakob Nielsen makes a good point in his analysis of how a logarithmic scale may be a better option when comparing high and low volume events on the same diagram in certain scenarios.
Posted by Charles
9:29 PM
0 comments
June’s World Metrix report estimates the world online audience at 713 million people (age 15+). The U.S. accounts for 21 percent of the Web’s unique visitors; 11 percent are from China and 7 percent from Japan.
The Top Global Properties show Microsoft sites in the #1 spot with some 500 million global visitors. Yahoo is second with 481 million visitors, and Google closely follows with 454 million.
When it comes to pageviews, Yahoo led the pack with 116 billion page views, followed by Google with 84 billion and Microsoft with 75 billion.
While the major search engines got the most visitors, a couple newbies made it into the top 15: Wikipedia ranked 8th with 128 million visitors and MySpace ranked 15th with 66 million visitors.
More Info
Posted by Paul J. Bruemmer
1:27 PM
0 comments
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
This definitely went viral in the agency world, so I'll give them credit there, but it still makes them look pretty schlocky.
If I am in a high-end restaurant (which I'd hope Agency.com would liken themselves to, rather than a Subway, for example), I don't want to see the state of the kitchen before they bring out my overpriced entree; why would I want to see this?
I am, as a chef, very entertained...
Posted by Reid
1:42 PM
0 comments
Yikes... AOL made a boo boo...
"Just as AOL is trying to entice Web users with free e-mail, storage and other
formerly paid services, the company committed a gaffe so stunningly stupid, it's
hard to believe that consumers will ever trust the company again.
About 10 days ago, someone at AOL thought it would be a good idea to post all of the
search queries of around 658,000 users from March to May on a publicly
accessible Web site. The data was "anonymized," meaning that the company
replaced users' names with numbers; according to AOL, that process sufficed to
render the users unidentifiable.
Never mind that users conduct vanity searches for their own names, or addresses, or type their credit card and social security numbers into search engines. AOL maintains that anyone could have typed in that information, not necessarily the person with that name and/or address, social security number, etc. "
Click article link to read more...
Posted by Megan Riley
10:46 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Google has just tapped into a a HUGE ad inventory source by signing a deal with the Fox Interactive Network to power paid search on all of the company's Web properties which includes the gargantuan social networking site, MySpace. Previously, Yahoo! powered search on MySpace.
Google is so the Napoleon Bonaparte of the Internet.
Posted by sandra
11:21 AM
0 comments
Monday, August 07, 2006
SES 2006 Yahoo Announces Search Builder
This looks like an easy and inexpensive way to add site search to a Web site. I'd be curious about some of what you commit to by using Yahoo! as your site search (are you allowing them to place ads on your site?), but I am sure, for some people, this will be great.
Posted by Reid
2:55 PM
0 comments
interesting stats from a recent la times and bloomberg poll...
so, how up-tight are we? not so much, actually.
Posted by brian_tsang
9:58 AM
0 comments
Friday, August 04, 2006
What Constitutes a Click?: Business Week covers the effort of the major search engines to battle clickfraud.
Posted by Reid
4:32 PM
0 comments
Thursday, August 03, 2006
I'm always fascinated by the social aspect of the Internet--the ways in which technology is used to create social connections, whether it be amounting countless online friends, sharing bookmarks or even participating in online worlds. We seem to be drawn to technology that allows us to connect with each other not only in different ways, but in a way that acknowledges that we have a variety of interests and only so much time in a day. Tech Crunch has a great review of a new product from Meebo, called MeeboMe, yet another way that you can stay connected via the Internet. All you need is your own Web page and any visitor can stop by and say hello! Of course, being able to instantly contact someone through a Web page has a practicality to it, as well.
Posted by Ingrid Alongi
1:12 PM
0 comments
This article provides some good stats on how subscribers take the word "spam" loosely. To keep our subscribers from pushing the spam button on us we must refine the opt in process and increase the content's revelvancy within each email.
"In fact, a recent poll found that 49 percent of consumers say they discover later (like when they get the first few e-mails) that they really are not interested in what they signed up to receive. A full 36 percent say they click their ISP's "This is Spam" button when they don't find the e-mail interesting. (Note to marketers everywhere: subscribers define spam much more liberally than we do!)"
Posted by Megan Riley
11:02 AM
0 comments
Hot from the pages of the Wall Street Journal today (who, by the way is covering Web-related news a lot more lately) had a fabulous article (on page B2 for the print edition readers) about Foster's Beer shifting all of their US TV ad budget to Web advertising.
There are a lot of factors and elements cited in the article... you should check it out.
Posted by Reid
10:10 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
I usually frown upon purchasing subscriber lists to generate leads but if its a non-negotiable situation this article covers some basic guidelines to follow when choosing a vendor:
1) Know the source(s) of the names your purchasing. Basically, what did these subscribers opt in to receive?
2) Check the vendor's references. Might even want to look up list vendor's mailing address - is it a real office?
3) Define your goals for the list you're purchasing. Brand awareness? Register for an event? Click to purchase?
Posted by Megan Riley
11:17 AM
0 comments
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