Google is Reading Your Mind
October 29, 2008
Not even your brain waves are safe from the all-powerful reach of Google. According to Zdnet.com, Google and MediaVest have been studying brain waves to determine psychological responses to ads on video content. It seems it’s not enough to know whether or not you click on an ad in an online video, now Google wants to know your internal, Freudian response to it, too.
Google tapped the skills of NeuroFocus to measure, “skin responses, eye movement and EEG brain scan” to determine internal, psychological responses to in-video overlay ads. That all seems quite technical, yet the results of the study are not quite as technical. Read more
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Social Web Becomes Mainstream - Is Your Brand There?
October 27, 2008
According to a new report by Forrester, the social web has become mainstream in the United States. In fact, it’s grown to be commonplace with more than 75% of Internet users actively participating in some form of social media in 2008. That’s up from 56% in 2007. If you were wondering whether or not your brand should have a presence in social media, it looks like the proof is in the numbers.
Of course, some social web participants are far more active than others, and the trick is finding active social web users to act as brand advocates and word-of-mouth influencers to give your brand a boost. However, the first step is to get a social web presence for your brand, if you don’t already have one. Read more
Google Ranked Top Internet Property - Again
October 24, 2008
comScore, Inc. released its monthly report showing the top Internet properties based on U.S. traffic last week. The September 2008 report doesn’t include any drastic surprises with Google continuing to reign supreme in the online world. The Top 10 Internet Properties (U.S.) for September 2008 according to comScore’s report are: Read more
Cause Marketing in Ads Boosts Brand Sales for Some Categories
October 22, 2008
If you’re in the business of selling personal hygiene products, then you might want to look into tying a cause to your ads ASAP based on the results of a new report from Cone and Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. According to the press release, the unique study followed the purchase patterns of 182 consumers after viewing ads with and without cause marketing messages included in them. Those consumers were then sent shopping in a convenience store mock-up created for the study and asked to purchase items from four categories: shampoo, toothpaste, chips and lightbulbs.
The results showed a big jump in sales for shampoo (up 74% when the ad was tied to a cause) and toothpaste (28% increase). The study also found that consumers spent twice as much time viewing ads with cause-related messages in them than they did viewing non-cause ads. Read more
Google #1 for Brand Loyalty - Again
October 20, 2008
For the past 11 years, Brand Keys has conducted a comprehensive survey of brand loyalty among consumers. This year 371 brands were included in the survey across 57 categories, and 26,000 consumers were surveyed about those brands in September 2008.
The results of the survey are not entirely surprising with Google topping the list for the second year in a row. Other brands appeared to be directly affected by the state of the U.S. economy with brands like Wal-mart rising (from 63 to 18) and brands like Hyatt falling (from 8 to 32).
The top 5 brands overall are: Read more