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Susan Gunelius

Susan Gunelius

Generation C Redefines Media Consumption

Americans born between 1978 and 1994 are now between the ages of 18 and 34. This is a generation of people that grew up with VCRs and may never have seen a black and white television let alone a television with a dial instead of a remote control. Even the oldest members of this generation spent most of their lives with mobile phones and Internet access. Many have never had the need to use a pay phone and have never seen a corded telephone with a rotary dial.

According to a new study by Nielsen, this generation has been dubbed Generation C — the Connected Generation, and they’re changing the world of media consumption in ways previous generations saw only in Star Trek episodes and James Bond movies.

As Nielsen explains, this generation “is taking their personal connection—with each other and content—to new levels, new devices and new experiences like no other age group.” Members of Generation C make up 22% of the population of the United States, and their preferred media consumption habits are changing the way brands communicate with consumers.

This generation of people might only make up approximately one-fifth of the U.S. population, but they represent a large segment of consumers who watch online video (27%), visit social networking sites and blogs (27%), own tablet devices (33%) and use smartphone devices (39%). They truly are “always connected” and they expect everyone else in their world to be connected at all times, too.

Brands have to find new ways to stand out in the clutter of media messages that members of Generation C filter through each day, and brands have to learn how to break through that clutter through new media opportunities.

The need to redefine marketing for a new generation of consumers isn’t new. Advancing technology and communications and evolving social and political views play a large role in redefining each generation and marketing has to change as a result. If your brand wants to connect with Generation C, you need to start thinking and living like them. They’re unique, just like every generation before them.

You can get more details in the complete report: Nielsen and NM Incite’s U.S. Digital Consumer Report.

Image: Martin Abegglen

Celebrity Brand Endorsers Can Still Give Brands a Positive Sales Lift

sofia vergara cover girlResearch has shown again and again that celebrity brand endorsers don’t typically drive brand sales, but there are always exceptions to every rule. In a recent study, Women at NBCUniversal determined that several celebrity endorsers are making a positive impact on a number of brands. What will surprise you even more is who those celebrities are and which brands they’re pitching.

Women at NBCU used its Brand Power Index (BPI) to track 500 brands between August to December 2011 that are most talked about by women. The results of the study are based on a compilation of online search data, social media buzz, and person-to-person interviews. The celebrity endorsers and the brands they pitched that had the biggest impact on female consumers and got the most buzz from women were:

  1. Maria Aragon for Gap: Gap jumped up 49 spots on the Brand Power Index with the help of the 11 year-old YouTube star singing “I Want Candy” in the company’s holiday commercial.
  2. Selena Gomez, David Hasselhoff, and Cookie Monster for Kinect for Xbox 360: With this ensemble cast of diverse celebrity endorsers pitching a variety of Kinect products, the brand climbed 119 places on the Brand Power Index.
  3. Sofia Vergara for Diet Pepsi, Kmart, and Cover Girl: Sofia Vergara endorsed three brands during the holiday season and all three of them moved significantly up on the Brand Power Index — Diet Pepsi jumped 49 places; Kmart increased 29 places; and Cover Girl experienced a 37 spot increase.
  4. Ty Burrell for Minute Maid: In a continuation of Minute Maid’s “Beta male persona” commercials that began in 2010, Ty Burrell helped the brand jump 121 places on the Brand Power Index.
  5. Jon Bon Jovi for Advil: Sharing his personal story of chronic pain and how Advil helped him relieve some of that pain, the rock star helped the Advil brand rise in the Brand Power Index.

While these brand experienced a positive lift in buzz among the important female consumer audience in late 2011, the question is whether expensive celebrity endorsements drive the required ROI and whether that lift can be sustained. Every brand wants to raise awareness, increase positive sentiment, and drive buzz, but if that buzz doesn’t translate into sales at some point, then additional investments will need to be made to turn buzz into sales.

The lesson to learn from the Women at NBCU study is simple. Celebrity endorsers can have a positive effect on brand buzz and sales. However, this is an area where you need to tread carefully. Celebrity endorsers aren’t cheap and their reputations can change in a split second. Just ask Pepsi who learned that lesson when it ended its relationship with Madonna. That’s not the first or last time a celebrity endorser and brand had to part ways at the brand’s expense, and that’s not a road you want your brand to have to travel.

PayPal Targets Impulse Shoppers with New QR Codes

PayPal launched a quick response (QR) code campaign for Valentine’s Day in Singapore that allows people to make purchases by scanning QR codes on large ads posted on subway walls. The QR code ads are being called “mobile shopping walls” and can be found in 15 subway stations throughout Singapore. PSFK reports that each ad featured a different Valentine’s Day product offer from one of eight participating retailers.

Consumers simply needed to download the PayPal QR code reader app to their mobile devices, and then scan the QR code using the app. Once the QR code was scanned, the consumer would be led directly to the login page for his or her PayPal account where the advertised product could be purchased instantly.

There is no doubt that these ads targeted impulse shoppers who needed to make last-minute Valentine’s Day gift purchases. For PayPal and the participating retailers, the campaign made it incredibly easy for consumers to respond to the ads and close a transaction quickly and easily. It’s great to see this type of direct marketing through QR codes which have been primarily used to lead consumers to informational pages, lead forms, and contests in the past.

Of course, QR codes are still in their infancy and until more consumers not only learn how to use them but also deem the effort required to use them as valuable enough, their growth will be slow. In mid-2011, comScore reported that only 6.2% of the U.S. mobile population had scanned a QR code on their mobile devices. The majority of scanned QR codes were found in newspapers and magazines (49.4%) or on product packaging (35.3%). Furthermore, 58% of mobile users who scanned QR codes did so at home, and 63.9% scanned QR codes at a retail or grocery store (39.4% and 24.5%, respectively).

It’s only a matter of time until we start seeing more brands using QR codes in creative ways and places to actually drive real-time, direct sales. However, the shift to launching transactional QR codes needs to happen quickly before a larger percentage of the mobile population perceives them as strictly informational and lacking added value. Education and re-education need to happen in order for QR codes to have a chance at long-term success for brands and businesses.

What do you think about the future of QR codes? Can they turn into transactional tools that add value to consumer brand experiences? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: CoCreatr

Microsoft Launches Social Display Ads with People Powered Stories

This week, Microsoft announced it will begin rolling out social display ads powered by Bazaarvoice (a social commerce company) in April of this year. It’s another big step that the company has taken to integrate social data into its own product offerings. Already, Microsoft is partners with Facebook to offer its Bing search engine users social search results. Now, Microsoft’s premium advertisers will be able to add a social element to their display ads through the new “People Powered Stories” ad units.

The social display ads will be targeted just as traditional display ads are targeted, but they’ll include a new social component. Using information gathered from Bazaarvoice, the ads will include user-generated product reviews and ratings with more features expected to be added in the future.

For example, Microsoft plans to add blog posts, online forum comments, tweets, videos, and expert reviews to the social content included in its social display ads in the future. Microsoft also intends to launch People Powered Stories to mobile devices, and ultimately, social display ads could be made available to non-premium advertisers, too.

According to AdWeek, Microsoft is already seeing a lift in positive results for social display ads. In the company’s own People Powered Stories test ad for Windows 7, which is targeted to college students, the company has tracked a 6.3% lift in purchase intent and a 23 point lift in believability and authenticity in comparison to traditional high-tech display ad results. Furthermore, Microsoft reports that consumers spent an average of 62 seconds with its social display ads.

Social display advertising will undoubtedly be very popular among advertisers. At launch, People Powered Stories will be served on Microsoft sites as well as on sites in the Microsoft publisher network.

Research has shown again and again that consumers are more affected by reviews and ratings from other consumers (even if those other consumers are strangers) than they are by brand advertising messages, marketing brochures, and sales pitches. The concern for consumers will be related to privacy and whether or not they want their reviews, ratings, and so on shared through third-party ads. The concern for brand managers and advertisers will be how quickly they can start running social display ads. You can bet this is one type of ad unit that will be hot in 2012 and beyond.

What do you think? Write a comment and share your thoughts on People Powered Stories and social display advertising in general.

Image: Microsoft

The Digital Future as Told by 2011 Digital Trends

If the digital future is shaped by the digital past of 2011, then a new report from comScore paints an interesting picture of what’s on the horizon. In the 2012 U.S. Digital Future in Focus report, comScore outlines the trends in online search, online video, online advertising, social media, e-commerce and mobile, and predicts how those trends will affect digital media in 2012.

Consumer Behavior Shifts to Social Media for Communications

Telephones and email are so 2010. The world now turns to social media, particularly Facebook, for communication. In 2011, Facebook accounted for the largest share of online minutes across the entire Internet — 16.6% share.

Google Starts to See Its Stronghold Slip

Thanks to Microsoft’s social search partnership with Facebook, the company’s search engine, Bing, successfully surpassed Yahoo! as the #2 search engine in 2011 and has become a real potential threat for the all-powerful Google. Of course, Google is still far in the lead in the search market, but consumers are realizing there are other viable options.

The World of Video Will Never Look the Same

As more people purchase smartphones and tablet devices, they are consuming more video content on those mobile devices. In 2011, on an average day, over 100 million people in the United States watched online video content via mobile devices. That’s a 43% increase over the prior year. You can bet that number will grow significantly again in 2012. There is simply no going back now.

Digital Access Has Far-Reaching Effects

As more people get digital access, particularly through smartphones and tablet devices, content consumption habits, shopping behaviors, and advertising budgets are changing. Companies need to adapt quickly.

In 2011, 4.8 trillion display ad impressions were delivered to Americans. Companies expect to invest even more heavily in digital advertising in 2012 as well as in social media and content marketing initiatives. This shift in advertising budgets is in direct response to consumer content consumption habits — both online and via mobile devices. At the end of 2011, 8% of digital activity occurred via mobile devices rather than through traditional web channels.

The number of people turning to the web and mobile web for shopping is also growing faster than brick-and-mortar shopping. E-commerce growth rates increased by double-digits in 2011 despite the faltering economy.

What do you think? Are you investing enough and doing the right things to market your brand successfully in the digital future?

Image: stock.xchng

Magazines See Big Jump in QR Codes in 2011

Quick response codes (QR codes) are becoming the norm in print advertising, and according to a report by mobile marketing firm Nellymoser, approximately 4,500 QR codes appeared in the top 100 magazines during 2011.

Those QR codes appeared in a mix of ads and editorial pages, but advertisers are definitely the ones leading the print magazine QR code trend.

Nellymoser found that women’s magazines are the most popular place for QR codes with the top magazine titles for QR code use ranking as follows:

  1. InStyle = 141 QR codes
  2. ESPN The Magazine = 136 QR codes
  3. People = 136 QR codes
  4. Self = 126 QR codes
  5. Entertainment Weekly = 123 QR codes

Between January and December of 2011, QR code usage in magazine advertising jumped by over 122% from 3.6% of ad pages to 8% of ad pages. Most of those QR code ads are from the beauty, home, and fashion categories according to Nellymoser. The top brands using QR codes in magazines during 2011 were:

  1. John Frieda = 82 QR codes (beauty industry)
  2. L’Oreal = 79 QR codes (beauty industry)
  3. Cuisinart = 74 QR codes (home industry)
  4. Garnier = 72 QR codes (beauty industry)
  5. Revlon = 67 QR codes (beauty industry)

Nellymoser also reports that the more QR codes that are in a magazine, the higher the overall scan rates, and QR codes that include a message describing the benefit consumers get when they scan them receive higher scan rates than stand-alone QR codes. These are useful findings for brands looking to engage with consumers via print ads. Including an ad with a QR code in a publication that already has many advertisers who use QR codes is a better choice than being the lone QR code advertiser in a magazine.

This is a situation where consumer behavior simply makes sense — common sense. Once a person takes her mobile device out to scan one QR code, it’s a lot easier to keep on scanning. That’s one less hurdle for the advertiser to have to navigate in its effort to connect with consumers. Add a compelling message alongside the QR code, and that advertiser stands a much better chance of driving scans and conversions.

What do you think about QR codes in magazines? Are you using them to promote your brand yet? Have you ever scanned one? Leave a comment and share your experience from the brand and consumer side.

Image: Flickr