Category Archives: digital media

May 21, 2013 · 10:06 am

Running Radio On TV

I think I can state without any fear of being contradicted that no one would run a radio ad on TV.

English: A typical "As seen on TV" l...

Giving up the sight, motion, and color of TV to use an existing radio creative is wasteful.  The opposite is true as well – we’re all familiar with TV commercials in which the audio is just music and the video handles the branding and other messaging.  Running one on radio might provide a nice musical interlude but not much in the way of marketing.

I bring this up because a recent study on how publications are presenting themselves on emerging platforms got me thinking about it:

Of the 78 consumer-facing English language publications detailed in the report, 83 percent have at least one app available in the Apple® App Store, Newsstand app or the Google Play™ service. Of these, 65 percent have published iPhone® apps and 40 percent have published apps for the Android™ platform. All 78 publish on the iPad® device. However, only 25 percent of these were optimized for any form of tablet display, with most publishers using scaled-down versions of their desktop sites instead.

That’s from a new report from the Brand Perfect™ initiative by Monotype Imaging Inc.  And it’s not just print publications who are at fault here:

Despite the emergence of responsive Web design, which enables optimal viewing experiences across a wide range of devices, the report identified that publishers are not supporting its use in online advertising. Where device-ready sites are not available, advertisements served are scaled down, often resulting in illegible typography and distorted imagery.

In the broader sense, we’re all content creators, even if that content is labelled “advertising.”  Restating the obvious (one of my specialties ), the TV ad on radio is as ineffective as a scaled-down, illegible banner in mobile.  A publisher who can’t support marketers’ efforts to use proper cross-platform technology is a TV station continuing to broadcast in black and white or only in Standard Definition.  Putting out content in a less than optimal form for new devices is buying a Ferrari to drive to and from the market at 35 MPH.  The technology has moved along, as have your consumers.  You need to catch up!

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

Filed under digital media

Tagged as , , , , ,

May 2, 2013 · 11:00 am

What The School Dance Shows Us About Marketing

Remember what it was like when you were a lot younger (ok, so not THAT much for some of you) and you’d head to a dance at school? There are the kids who would dance with anyone and everyone. There were the wall flowers who hid along the sides. Then there were whose who really wanted to dance in the worst way (well, not DANCE badly, but wanted desperately to participate!) but didn’t really know what to do. You could almost smell the desperation. They didn’t really have the skills to engage with the kids with whom they wanted to dance but they very much were sending out the signals that they wanted to.

High school dance, 1941. Worthington (Ohio) Hi...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was reminded of that as I read about how many marketers are planning to spend a lot more money on “social media advertising.”  Frankly, I consider that an oxymoron.  Social media, to me, is about engagement and conversation and not about using a megaphone to talk about yourself.  Nielsen put out the research a couple of months ago and it found that a majority of advertisers surveyed said they are going to increase their paid social media advertising budgets for 2013. In some cases they’re cutting back on display ads and it’s always a good idea to spread the ad investment across channels.  However, I’m a believer in using the resources to support social media efforts and not to buy ads on social platforms if a brand has to make a choice.

There was an AdAge study that showed the use of Facebook Ads is to drive brand awareness more than anything else.  That’s the equivalent of hanging by the gym wall – people can see you but there’s not much going on in terms of making engagement happen.  It isn’t until we lose our fear and go talk with someone (preferably about THEM!) that the invitation to dance can happen.  When people sense that desperation it makes them think they’re the lowest common denominator when an attempt at engagement occurs, whether it’s a dance or an ad campaign.

Nielsen said this: “Advertisers are doubtful or unconvinced about the effectiveness of paid social media advertising, indicating that the growth of the medium is being somewhat hampered by a lack of relevant, universally employed metrics.”  I don’t think that’s the entire story.  I think that doubt is spurred in part because it’s a square peg (ads) in a round hole (a social setting).  It’s the desperate kid standing by the gym wall shouting irrelevant nonsense.  As marketers we need to engage in that setting if we’re desperate to dance.  Chat someone up – see if there’s compatibility.  Maybe even dance a bit.  Who knows where it can lead.  Standing by the wall yelling “I really want to dance with someone!” isn’t going to work.  At least it never did when I was at those dances many years ago.  How about you?

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

Filed under digital media, Growing up

Tagged as , , , , ,

April 30, 2013 · 9:42 am

The Business And The Binge

The folks at Harris Interactive released some new information about TV consumption and it doesn’t bode well for the traditional business models – not even for the dual revenue model that empowered cable and which traditional broadcast is mimicking these days.  While I think any of us who pay attention to viewing research both via the boob tube and via other platforms are aware that things have changed, these numbers show that they’ve done so to a far greater extent than one might think.  Let’s see if you agree.

Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You can read the data from Harris here but in brief what it shows is that younger people stream more stuff and set their own viewing times.  They also tend to “binge” view – they’ll watch all the episodes from a season of a show straight through over several hours.  If you’re over 55, there’s a 2 out of 3 chance you’re being your own program scheduler.  If you’re under 40, that becomes a 9 out of 10 chance.  Most of the way that on-demand viewing is done is NOT via a system controlled by the cable operators among younger demos.  While the older audience tends to use the services the operators make available via their set-top box or DVR, younger people have wandered well off the ranch.

As Harris points out:

Self-scheduled and binge television viewing trends suggest implications for the television industry at large, potentially impacting both advertisers and content producers.  For advertisers, the clearest impact is that some of these viewers will be taking in contact on platforms beyond their reach, such as Netflix and Amazon’s VOD services.

Content producers, meanwhile, have both positive and negative implications to explore. On the upside, the ability to quickly catch up on past seasons of existing shows, particularly ones with complex storylines, could give more viewers the opportunity to jump into new episodes without confusion. On the downside, viewers watching when they choose, not when it airs, can play havoc with ratings.

Taking that to next the step, when the traditional currency of TV – ratings – suffers through a huge deflation, the basic underpinning of the business will follow.  Yikes!

I don’t know that the above research is huge news – look at how your own media habits have changed.  What is surprising is the extent to which these changes are now a way of life.  Let’s see how the business follows the audience – nothing like “interesting” times!

Enhanced by Zemanta

Leave a comment

Filed under digital media, What's Going On

Tagged as , , , , , ,