Good Article: Drake Morton

Fear Sells

by Matt Prohaska , Monday, July 19, 2010

Fear is one of our most powerful emotions. And it is often used to drive behavior, whether it’s a politician fear-mongering a constituency, a manager using that tactic with a subordinate, or a seller to a buyer.

A friend of mine from a major cable network recently told me, after his network completed its TV upfront selling for 2010/11, how amazed he was at how much selling could be done through fear and the perception of what defines premium inventory. We can visit the second part of that comment another time, but for now I’d like to focus on the first part, still common throughout TV ad sales: Fear sells.

This is true in most areas of the sales process. Not just what is being discussed here.

Check out this spot and guess what may be being sold (for good reason!!)

http://www.vistinemedia.com/c/image2000/email/index_image2000.html

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Good Read: Drake Morton

Paid Content?

by Daniel Ambrose , Thursday, July 15, 2010

“To charge for content or not to charge, that is NOT the question.”     

People is the world’s most profitable magazine.  But People achieves its profitability by giving away more content to more readers than any other magazine.  Yes, I mean People is giving away print readership. How can they make money when they give away so much free?  What can we learn from this about making money in online publishing?
Three million, four hundred and fifty thousand readers pay to read People magazine every week, and 40.08 million read it free every week.  I’m not writing about their Internet readership. Three and a half million People readers don’t want to miss an issue or an article.  In Internet parlance, they are “highly engaged.” They subscribe or buy People on the newsstand.  In the magazine business we call them primary readers.  There are another 40 million readers, about 10.8 readers per print copy as reported by MRI, who are somewhat less committed to People.  These secondary readers probably don’t read it cover to cover, and certainly not every issue.  If you measured the unduplicated number of people who read the four issues of People in a given month, it would be an even higher number.  These casual readers are a significant part of what makes the People franchise so valuable.  Advertisers want to reach them.
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Good to Know: Drake Morton

‘Buying’ Audiences

by Chris Young , Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Thanks to a convergence of technology and consumer habits, both fueled by the advancements of the 21st century, there is a growing trend among digital advertisers to purchase their key audience rather than buying specific destination media — which is a positive development for marketers.

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You Need to Know: Drake Morton

Video Dominates Rich Media Tactics for

Online and Direct Marketing Professionals

March 27, 2010

According to the Unica State of Marketing 2010 study, video is the most adopted rich media marketing tactic today. Videos, created by marketing, rank first followed by streaming media, YouTube, podcasts, and ads within online videos represent the rich media tactics expected to be used most in the coming year. Year?over?year growth in the next 12 months for all these tactics is expected to be in the 20% range.

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Good Information: Drake Morton

E-Tailers Investing Ahead of Recovery

NOVEMBER 13, 2009

Getting ready for consumers to open their wallets

Recovery from the recession is not yet in reach, but online retailers are ready to start spending all the same.

E-tailers know online consumers demand a top-notch shopping experience, and that difficulties navigating e_commerce Websites can lose them sales. Internet Retailer and Vovici Corp. found that more than seven in 10 Web merchants planned to spend more on advanced e-commerce applications and services this year.

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You need to know: Drake Morton

New Chart: Email Spending Sped Up

As the Economy Slowed

SUMMARY: Email has not only been spared the ax that fell heavily on most marketing budget line items, it seems to have actually benefited from the down economy. This boon wasn’t skewed by a few email-reliant sectors, it occurred in every industry participating in our benchmark survey.

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Very Good Read: Drake Morton

Add Direct Response To Get More

Out Of Rich-Media Ads

by Jason Tafler , Friday, September 25, 2009

As new technologies and more engaging content emerge on the Web, consumers expect more from online advertising and brands demand more value for their ad dollars. Many marketers struggle with creating cutting-edge ads that grab viewers’ attention and drive ROI in a meaningful way. Companies that are getting the most out of their ad buys are using new methods to deeply engage consumers with creative rich-media ads that also incorporate direct-response elements.

These do not have to be standalone strategies; each can play an important role in any comprehensive campaign. Depending on the marketer’s objectives, rich-media campaigns can include features such as data collection, lead generation, printable coupons, targeted product and pricing information, and ticket or product purchasing directly within banner ads, shortening the path to conversion. These capabilities not only provide marketers with more insight into their target audience, but increase consumer interaction time. According to PointRoll benchmarks for 2008, rich media provides a 562% lift in response/return over standard ads and 62% lift over flash banner ads. Depending on the campaign, including a direct-response element increases response by 42%, with an additional 3% increase in brand time.
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Excellent: Drake Morton

Act Now, and We’ll Double Your

Market Share!

Why Kodak Is Using DRTV in Addition to Brand Advertising for Its Printing Products

By Beth Snyder Bulik
Published: August 27, 2009

YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) — The phrase “As seen on TV” might bring to mind Snuggie, ShamWow and PedEgg but probably not a venerable American brand that invites you to share the most important moments of your life.

Yet for Kodak, direct-response TV has become an effective and preferred way to reach consumers in the year and a half that the company has used it.

 You Need to Read: Drake Morton

WPP Profit Dropped 47%

in Second Quarter

More Than Half of Company’s Revenue Came From Nontraditional Advertising

By Michael Bush
Published: August 26, 2009

       NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Using words such as “severe” and “surprise” to describe the recession’s impact on its business, WPP, the world’s largest advertising conglomerate, said today that its profit was down 47% for the second quarter. And WPP Chief Executive Martin Sorrell said it will be a while before marketing executives begin to spend and take chances the way they did just a few years back.

 ”Given the fact that we stared into the abyss six or nine months ago, people are going to take a long time to go back to where they were,” Mr. Sorrell said. “It’s going to be a long time before this generation of managers, who were managing businesses that are faced with the extinction of credit lines, severe sales compression and inventory being eradicated, begin to take risks. They won’t until they are 100% sure things are on the uptrend.”

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Did you know? Drake Morton

Beyond The 30-Second Spot: Online Video Trends   

by Chris Lawing , Friday, August 21, 2009

Brand Videos

Marketing your company online isn’t what it used to be. Words alone are not enough.  A Diffusion Group study projects that by 2013, long-form video will represent almost 70% of online-video ad revenue, up from just over 40% today.  The great attraction to this form of video is not only can company sales and marketing teams leverage a company brand video, they can push it to customers on their Web site, blog, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts. Good storytelling, believability and creative visuals still make the foundation for a powerful brand video.

Whatever you call it - a brand video, company demo, video intro to your company - this online video represents what your company is positioning or selling in a dynamic way with motion and sound.  Apple showcases video right off its home page with its commercials and an iPhone demo. B&H in New York City has a SuperStore Experience video off its homepage, which showcases the store, products, and customer relations.

VerbalEyes

Video eMessaging

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