Minority Report is here (Almost)

Did you ever see Minority Report, with Tom Cruise? I have always found the advertising in that movie fascinating because the concept is that all of the ads in any media - be they newspaper or out-of-home digital boards - change for you. That's right. The ad that you walk past in the mall is targeted at you personally. The concept is based on the idea that each media scans your retinas and can identify you, and is smart enough to advertise to you.

Online advertising has gotten close to that with Behavioral Targeting through Advertising Networks (like Advertising.com and Casale). The premise on which these networks operate is that they are able to watch the sites that a computer is browsing. Based on that, they can determine the types of things the person who is surfing is interested in. For instance, let's say that you are surfing automobile sites, and let's say that you tend to look at mini-van information. Suddenly through simple tracking mechanisms the advertising networks can determine that you are probably interested in a mini-van. So, if one of their Advertisers is trying to advertise their particular mini-van, you suddenly find that a lot of the advertising space on the internet (i.e. lots of inventory that the particular Network has purchased) seems to be educating you about that particular mini-van. It is magic.

Well - hang onto your eyeballs - now it looks like Out-of-Home Digital Video Boards may have that similar capabilities being built into them. The Globe and Mail reported today that small cameras can now be embedded in the screen of a small digital video board and can track who looks at the screen and for how long. The makers of the tracking systems say the software can determine the viewer's gender, approximate age range and, in some cases, ethnicity – and can change the ads accordingly. In practice however, it looks like for the near term if the system can simply determine the gender the system will be doing very well.

That could mean razor ads for men, cosmetics ads for women and video-game ads for teens.

And even if the ads don't shift based on which people are watching, the technology's ability to determine the viewers' demographics is golden for advertisers who want to know how effectively they're reaching their target audience.

While the technology remains in limited use for now, advertising industry analysts say it is finally beginning to live up to its promise. The manufacturers say their systems can accurately determine gender 85 to 90 per cent of the time, while accuracy for the other measures continues to be refined.

Leaders in the field appear to be:

• TruMedia Technologies Inc., Florida
  
• Quividi, France
• Studio IMC Inc., New York

Trends for 2009: #15. TV will do "okay" this year.

Doing "okay" is like someone saying you are "nice". It doesn't really stand out.

As reported in the Guardian, a Deloitte study suggests that the Recession could be "good news" for TV. Why? Well, in a recession people tend to stay home more and consequently watch TV.

UK television viewing hours were already rising in the second half of 2008 and are expected to rise another 30 minutes per week per viewer in 2009, according to the report from the technology, media and telecommunications practice at Deloitte.

Mind you, to counter that point, with the forecast massive reduction in advertising budgets TV advertising revenues will get hammered. eMarketer says that most researchers predicting a 5% or greater decline in spending.

On top of that, with the fragmentation of TV audiences away from the big networks, the supply of options has gone way up, and the demand for advertising time on the big networks has come way down. The result? Their advertising revenues will probably suffer more than most. Consequently they are looking at options to cut their costs - such as shutting stations.

What's a Marketer to do in 2009? This set of answers will sound remarkably similar to yesterday's!

• Look carefully at the price and performance of all media - this includes the dying print world, the new interactive world, and everything in between. You never know ... you might find that for your particular product or service a newspaper ad still outperforms an interactive campaign. But, more than likely, that just means that you aren't yet doing the right things with your interactive campaign.
  
• Ensure your TV advertising is effective. While this may sound obvious ... actually go out and do some research to ensure that your ads have recall, and that the message in them is being understood.
  
• Produce TV-like commercials specifically for the web (you will also find this one in my Trend about Interactive Advertising): In the "old days" you might have produced a TV commercial and then posted it to the web. That won't do any longer. Now it is important to shoot TV commercials specifically for the web. How are they different? First off they are typically lower video quality. They also might be shorter. In TV-land, the viewer must sit in front of your ad for 30 seconds. On the web, they will leave you more quickly. On the other hand ... your ad may be several minutes long. On the web you can produce an "advertising epic" - so long as it is truly captivating. People will gladly watch your entertainment, and maybe even forward it off to friends, and you won't have to shell out for a bunch of TV air time. A big way to make your online ads different is to allow a viewer to interact with the commercial. Perhaps the viewer should be able to select characters in the ad, then choose various changes to your plot line.

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.

Trends for 2009: #14. Traditional Print Media will continue to crater

I'm certainly not the first to forecast that newspaper and magazines are in rapid decline. According to eMarketer. The newspaper business model is broken and advertisers are bailing,

eMarketer forecasts that newspaper ad revenue will decline 16.4% in 2008, and dramtically further by 2012. On top of that circulation for newspapers continues to deteriorate as people hit the internet in greater numbers than ever before to get news, opinions, classifieds, and entertainment that are both timelier and free. Even worse for Traditional Print media - the high costs of production and distribution is not coming down.

I used to love the newspaper. Was there nothing better on a Saturday morning then to sip a hot coffee and thumb through the pages of the paper? Now there is. I brew my morning latte, and hop online for 20 minutes. I haven't had a subscription for years. In fact, this week I actually picked up a paper that someone else had left on a table in a Starbucks. That's the first one I've touched in months. The ironic thing is that I was attracted by a headline the trumpeted "TV Networks Closing Stations" (that will be a trend for another day).

Another piece of evidence came out this week when Google canceled it's print ad program. Google started the program in 2006, and by 2009 had 800 US newspapers participating in it. Reading between the lines, even Google couldn't make a buck in the dying print world.

So, what's a Marketer to do in 2009?

• Look carefully at the price and performance of all media - this includes the dying print world, the new interactive world, and everything in between. You never know ... you might find that for your particular product or service a newspaper ad still outperforms an interactive campaign. But, more than likely, that just means that you aren't yet doing the right things with your interactive campaign.
  
• Be sure that you have an exit plan for Traditional Print media. There are lots of newspapers going bankrupt and magazines that are shutting down. If you aren't doing interactive advertising, start now before it is too late for you to get the skills you will need to have to market well with new media.
  

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.

Trends for 2009: #13. Online Interactive Marketing will grow

Okay - I know this may seem somewhat repetitive, given some of my other Trend titles included:

• Integrated Interactive Campaigns
• Paid Search Advertising
• Online commerce will continue to grow
• Online advertising will continue to grow

But, there is a subtle difference here that is important. So, on we go ...

Online Interactive Marketing will continue to grow ... but ... most Marketers will continue to be more familiar with traditional media than the boundless opportunities provided to them by the online world. Even as marketing budgets are slashed and traditional media crater in their reach and effectiveness, many Marketers will not take advantage of the new opportunities that are available cheaply, easily, efficiently, and effectively online.

Some things for Marketers to focus on in 2009:

• Determine and Pursue your Social Media strategy: First off you have to recognize the value in engaging significantly and frequently with your prospects and customers, and then look at the opportunities you have to "monetize" your involvement. You need to develop a long-term social media strategy, plan, and related tactics. You also need to invest in getting good people and training them to do the job right. Tactics you may employ include:
  
  • Publish your own blog - content you might publish includes your Executives views on your culture, your ad campaigns, your product, your people, stories from your customers, and your company's history.
  • Participate in other blogs and reviews - use Techorati, Google, IceRocket, and others to track blogs and reviews where your company's name shows up, or where topics that are important to you show up. Create a "company blog spokespersa" (which could actually be several people, so long as they stick to the persona). Participate in blogs. For instance, if someone gives your product a good review then thank them for that. If someone gives your product a bad review then see what you can do to resolve the problem.
  • Add Reviews to your Site - There are two companies out there who can help you get product reviews up on your site fast. They are Buzzillions and BazaarVoice. Either of these two companies can get you up and running fast.
    

• Produce some Online video: Video continues to grow in importance on the web. A good analogy is that Video is to Text on the web as TV is to the Newspaper in traditional media (i.e. Video rules in terms lasting impressions). Reasonable quality video cameras are selling for about $100 (albeit it makes sense to invest in higher quality for commercial purposes). Publishing video couldn't be easier with the likes of YouTube and similar hosting sites available for FREE. The message ... produce some video.
• Produce TV-like commercials specifically for the web: In the "old days" you might have produced a TV commercial and then posted it to the web. That won't do any longer. Now it is important to shoot TV commercials specifically for the web. How are they different? First off they are typically lower video quality. They also might be shorter. In TV-land, the viewer must sit in front of your ad for 30 seconds. On the web, they will leave you more quickly. On the other hand ... your ad may be several minutes long. On the web you can produce an "advertising epic" - so long as it is truly captivating. People will gladly watch your entertainment, and maybe even forward it off to friends, and you won't have to shell out for a bunch of TV air time. A big way to make your online ads different is to allow a viewer to interact with the commercial. Perhaps the viewer should be able to select characters in the ad, then choose various changes to your plot line.
• Create Software as an Advertising Media: Build out Google Gadgets, desktop applications, or other similar software that will help your customers connect with you. There has to be real value in the software. But, if you build it, they will come. Plus, they will buy from you!
• Build your Opt-in Email List: Email marketing is likely the cheapest and most effective way to reach out to people who have already volunteered to be your customer. If you don't have an inhouse opt-in email list, start one. If you do have it, make sure that your emails are personalized and effective.
  

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.

Trends for 2009: #12. The demand to build bulletproof cases to gain project funding

As economic times tighten the Accountants tend to rule the roost. It is a catch-22 in a sense, as I have already talked about previously in some of my other "trends for 2009" and random blog posts. The essence of a low-cost business strategy will help lead to long-term overall success. However, this also makes doing business challenging at times.

To succeed with starting a project in 2009, you are going to have to get it past your bean counters. This means that:

1. You will need to be VERY confident in the business benefits, and will need a good model to show how you will achieve those. To that end, you will may also need to point to 3rd party experts who can back you up on the likelihood of achieving the benefits.
   
2. You will need to have solid cost models, including IT, marketing, etc., etc., etc.. The departments that will have to spend to support your project will need to agree to the estimates you put forward, and indeed may have to sign-off on them for the CEO.
3. You will need to ensure that you build in future flexibility. With uncertainty comes the need to be flexible through the downturn, the eventual upturn, and every crazy thing in between.
   
4. You will need to have plans for substantial risk mitigation. In easier times, risks like project budget overruns or late delivery were all right given the speed that the economy was moving. That won't be acceptable in the foreseeable future.
   

What's a marketer to do in 2009?

• Spend a lot of time planning. In fact, set up cross-functional teams to help you do your planning,
• Get your teams trained in good planning methods, and
  
• Rely on standard and proven project management and financial models.

At the same time (and seemingly counter-intuitively), don't be afraid of being a Disruptor. Make your case and go for it. History has shown that being conservative in a recession isn't necessarily a good strategy. Grab an innovation and pursue it.

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.

How big is the web?

Want to expand your worldwide marketing reach? You better be marketing on the web!

comScore has just announced that the Global Internet Audience has just surpassed 1 billion Visitors. ONE BILLION. That's a big number.

That number includes people 15 and over who accessed the internet from home or work in December 2008.

1 billion definitely is a big number. But a bigger number is the world's population at 6.756 billion people. Many of the 5.756 billion people who don't currently have access to the internet are in developing countries, and don't have access to fancy computers or high-speed connections. However, watch for many more people to come online in 2009 as the internet continues its trek into hand-held devices with wireless access (including cell-phones, PDAs, and the new cheap netbooks.

If I were to bet an advertising dollar on where to place ads, I'd look at the most popular web properties, which include:

• Google Sites, visited by 77% of the total internet audience
  
• Microsoft Sites, 64%
• Yahoo! Sites, 56%

Additionally, I'd look to some of the top entities that support online advertising. Among those, I've worked with that I've had very good results from:

• Google (duh ... almost everyone should have this as their #1)
  
• ValueClick Networks
• Tribal Fusion
• 24/7 Real Media (which I believe recently changed some of its services over to the Outrider brand)
  
• Casale Media (my experience is that these are great people to work with!)
  
• Burst Media

Want some help planning or tuning your own Online Marketing for those 1 billion surfers who you are hoping find you? Contact Market GoGo now to get started.

Trends for 2009: #11. "Do It Yourself" and Free will be music to consumers' ears

I know that I said this was my "Top 10 Marketing Trends for 2009" ... but there is just so much to think about, I've got a few more trends that need to be covered. So this is now the "Top 10 + a few Marketing Trends for 2009."

Along with "Value" as a word that consumers will gravitate to in 2009, two other important phrases that consumers will glom onto are:

• Do It Yourself (or DIY), and
  
• Free
  

Through an economic trough people tend to stay close to home (witness the "staycation" concept that started in 2008). People will still spend, but they will look for ways to save. If they can do things themselves and save some money, they will do it. If they can get something of value for free, they will want it. What sorts of things:

• Cooking at home vs. Eating out,
• Movie and popcorn at home vs. Going to the movie,
• Fixing up the bathroom yourself vs. Renovating your bathroom,
• Free online guides vs. Buying a "How To" book,
• Etc.
  

But, a word of caution ... Whatever you do, don't make "Free" a main strength of your service or product. If the only selling price you can demand for your product is "free", then the demand must be pretty low. Make sure that your product has great value, and people will pay for it. The things you give out for free should be "value adds", not your core product or service.

So, what's a Marketer to do in 2009?

• Look for opportunities to give away for free value-added complementary products and services that will entice consumers to buy from you,
• Look for places where you can have your customer lower the cost of your product or service by doing some of the work themselves. Ensure that you make your product or service a "must have" item to do the work. (E.g. your product must be the essential item to make the outcome work),
  
• Advertise that the value-add is free, but ensure that the value of your product or service stands out on its own.
  

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.

The changing face of an Advertising Professional

Not that long ago, an Advertising Professional might have come directly from an Art School or a Communication Program, and worked their way up through the ranks. Those ranks were either in:

• the Publishing industry as a content creator (e.g. a broadcaster, photographer, cameraman, cinematographer, writer, editor, etc.),
  
• a Marketing Department as an Advertiser (e.g. a coordinator, manager, etc.), or
  
• at an Advertising Agency in the production and buying of advertising (e.g. copy writer, creative, creative director, account director, buyer, etc.).

But as the Advertising world shifts from a traditional media world to an online interactive world, new skills are necessary. Those skills are coming from the Systems Integration world. New skills that are necessary include:

• Technology-Savvy Creatives - People who really understand what can be done with a given technology and how to make it "sing"
  
• Business Analysts - To help define what is being built, how it should behave, and the desired outcomes
• Architects - Technical Analysts - Including Design Engineers and Architects who will lay the physical framework for the new system including security, volume-performance, database table structure, and other design elements
• Developers - To actually put the application together - be it an interactive ad or a web-site
  
• Test Analysts - To create and execute a test plan that will ensure the application works
• Project Managers - To keep the team and the work on track and mitigate risks to budget, scope, or delivery time.

Marketing is changing. Jump aboard for the ride.

Guerilla Advertising

Trendhunter recently published a slide-show of 37 Guerilla Marketing Stunts. This is a fun little slide-show to watch. Plan to spend 15-20 minutes reviewing the stunts, and then an extra 30-40 minutes after you watch it. I found myself following their links to all sorts of crazy trends.

Featured stunts include:

• Subway parties
• Gratevertising
• 3-D Tongues
• Musical at a Mall
• Drowning Billboards
• Lesbian Lipstick Smudges
• Redecorating Subway cars
• Flash Mob Routines
• Vending Machine Votes

Penile Fracture - A top searched Google phrase

Oh, the things you learn from watching TV ... So, for anyone who watches Grey's Anatomy, last night one of the characters suffered a "Penile Fracture". Jokingly, I said to my wife, "I guess you'll have to Google that one to find out if it is possible."

To my surprise this morning, I noticed that "Penile Fracture" was one of the top searched Google terms. Ouch. More to my surprise, it is actually possible. Double ouch.

The National Post has a pretty good article about it.

I wonder why no one scooped up the sponsored search terms on "Penile Fracture" right away. I bet the Marketing teams at Viagra and other similar companies wish they had!