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Tablets and Smartphones Stealing Eyes from TV Ads

Remember when the big problem for television advertisers shifted from consumers leaving the room during commercials to fast forwarding over them when they recorded the programs they watched? Next, the proliferation of DVRs made it easier than ever for people to skip commercials. Now, consumers have added another way to ignore commercials and it’s growing in popularity very quickly — simultaneously using tablet and smartphone devices while watching television.

However, all hope isn’t lost for commercials. In fact, new opportunities are being discovered to engage with consumers in new ways through television ads.

In a Nielsen study of connected device owners in the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany during the fourth quarter of 2011, it was discovered that the majority of connected device owners are watching television and using their smartphones or tablet devices at the same time. Following are some of the statistics from the study.

United States

  • 88% of tablet owners and 86% of smartphone owners use their devices while watching television at least during a 30-day period.
  • 45% of tablet owners and 41% of smartphone owners use their devices while watching television at least once every day.
  • 26% of tablet owners and 27% of smartphone owners use their devices while watching television several times a day.

United Kingdom

  • 80% of tablet owners and 78% of smartphone owners use their devices while watching television at least once during a 30-day period.
  • 41% of tablet owners and 40% of smartphone owners use their devices while watching television every day.
  • 24% of tablet owners and 24% of smartphone owners use their devices while watching television several times a day.

Germany

  • 71% of tablet owners and 65% of smartphone owners use their devices while watching television at least once during a 30-day period.
  • 28% of tablet owners and 20% of smartphone owners use their devices while watching television every day.
  • 12% of tablet owners and 9% of smartphone owners use their devices while watching television several times a day.

Italy

  • 71% of tablet owners and 66% of smartphone owners use their devices while watching television at least once during a 30-day period.
  • 29% of tablet owners and 30% of smartphone owners use their devices while watching television every day.
  • 15% of tablet owners and 13% of smartphone owners use their devices while watching television several times a day.

Survey respondents in all four countries agreed on one thing — the activity that they do the most on their tablet and smartphone devices while watching television is checking email. This is an activity that they’re likely to do both during commercials and during programs.

Here is where the data gets interesting. Consumers are using their mobile devices while watching television to not only look up information about programs but also to look up information about products advertised on television and search for deals on those products.

Brand marketers should take note of two important findings. First, consumers are looking for product-related information on their mobile devices while watching television and often commercials are catalysts to those searches. If you thought television advertising was dead — think again. It’s more important than ever to integrate your marketing efforts and include online and mobile elements, even in your television ads.

Second, tablet owners are slightly more likely to use their devices while watching television than smartphone owners. It’s worth considering how to integrate mobile elements for specific devices (e.g., tablet vs. smartphone) into your various marketing initiatives, including television ads.

Image: Veronica Belmont

Google Consumer Surveys Add Monetization Options to Websites

Google Consumer Surveys were launched last week, and the media world took notice. Could there be another way to monetize websites other than ads and paywalls? At a time when major news organizations like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are bringing paywalls back to life, Google wants to make sure the best content is available through its search engine and to all Internet users. That’s where Google Consumer Surveys come into the picture.

The new tool is actually very simple in concept. Advertisers create the surveys. When people visit websites that sign up to publish Google Consumer Surveys, a survey is shown, which people must complete in order to view the page content. Publishers can choose to display surveys on as many pages as they want, and they’re paid $0.05 per completed survey.

For publishers, Google Consumer Surveys enables them to generate revenue from their content. For advertisers, Google Consumer Surveys enables them to affordably gather market research data using self-service tools similar to buying ad space through Google AdWords. While Google expects the new product to be most attractive to small- and mid-size businesses, large brand advertisers and publishers are key targets, too.

Watch the video from Google that explains how Google Consumer Surveys work:

Surveys should be quick. As Google product manager Paul McDonald told Adweek, “We feel like spending six to eight seconds on a survey is a good trade-off compared to watching a 30-second ad.” I think it’s safe to assume most web surfers would agree with that.

However, the problem comes with the accuracy of the data collected through these surveys. Is it also safe to assume that once people get used to these surveys, they’ll just click any response to pass the roadblock and get to the content they want quickly? Google claims to have built some safeguards against this within the survey tool, but the problem is nearly impossible to mitigate completely.

Bottom-line, Google Consumer Surveys offers great opportunities for publisher to monetize their content and for advertisers to gather market intelligence. However, until we learn more about Google’s methods for ensuring results are reliable, those advertisers need to use the data collected through these surveys for exploratory and directional purposes only.

What do you think of Google Consumer Surveys? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Data – The Missed Marketing Opportunity

marketing dataWhile there is no question that data mining is an essential part of successful brand and business development, marketers still struggle to make sense of the massive amounts of data available to them. The days of collecting data about customers through traditional market research surveys and focus groups with little other opportunity to access that data are long gone. In fact, there is so much data available online and via the social web today that marketers are completely overwhelmed.

Today’s data struggles for marketers come in a few forms:

  1. The sheer volume of data available at marketers’ fingertips can be paralyzing.
  2. Finding and extracting the right data is challenging.
  3. Knowing what to do with the available data is confusing.

There was a time when consumer surveys told marketers what consumers liked and disliked. Decision-making was simple. Numbers led the way. Today, data is so much more accessible and numbers come from all directions. The web is a virtual treasure trove of quantitative and quantitative data for strategic decision-making, but where do you begin?

That’s the problem researchers from Columbia Business School found in their recent 2012 BRITE-NYAMA Marketing in Transition Study — large corporations need to do a better job at using data, measuring digital marketing, and assessing marketing ROI. Sample findings from the study include the following:

  • 39% of corporate marketers say their company data is collected too infrequently or not “real-time enough.”
  • 52% of corporate marketers believe that a lack of sharing data within their companies limits their abilities to effectively measure marketing ROI.
  • Large corporations are less likely to collect emerging forms of digital data (e.g., only 19% collect mobile data and just 35% collect social media data) than they are to collect traditional customer survey data (e.g., 74% collect demographics data, 60% collect usage data, and 54% collect attitude data).
  • 65% of corporate marketers say that comparing the effectiveness of marketing across digital media is a “major challenge” for their companies.
  • 39% of corporate marketers say they can’t turn their data into actionable insight.
  • 36% of corporate marketers say they have “lots of customer data,” but they, “don’t know what to do with it.”

These days, collecting data isn’t necessarily the biggest problem for marketers. The problem is having the right resources (meaning tools and manpower) to continually collect, expertly analyze, and effectively disseminate that data to internal audiences so decision makers can make the right real-time strategic decisions. Companies that take the time to learn how to use all of this “new” data and hire the best people to analyze that data and report the most important findings will be in a far better position in the long-run. It’s not about how much data you collect. It’s about how you interpret it and use it to make the best decisions.

What do you think about the problems with data in 2012? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Ulrik De Wachter

Brand Video Contests Come to YouTube

winnerWildfire is a leading social media marketing software company that’s well-known for its Facebook tools which make it easy for brands to hold contests and promotions on their Facebook Pages.  Wildfire also offers tools that integrate social media promotions with Twitter, and LinkedIn, and this week, the company announced it now offers its enterprise and consumer brand customers the ability to hold video contests on YouTube, too.

Wildfire’s customers include well-known brands like Mercedes-Benz, Sony, and Dairy Queen, and each of these companies has leveraged Wildfire’s Facebook promotional tools to run video contests on their Facebook Pages. In fact, throughout 2011, Wildfire helped brands run over 7,000 video contests, but none of them could be run directly through YouTube. Wildfire’s new YouTube integration makes it easier for brands to engage with consumers directly on the most popular video site in the world — YouTube.

Brands can run independent contests on both Facebook and YouTube through Wildfire now, or they can link a single contest across both sites. Wildfire offers the following tips for brand video contests:

  • Show sample video entries to potential contestants: Instead of describing in words what users should submit, show them an example in an easy-to-follow video.
  • Invest in relevant prizes that are highly appealing: Loyal customers are most likely to submit video entries, so be sure to reward them with prizes that are relevant to the brand.
  • Make it easy for people to create video entries: The easier it is for people to create video entries, the better. Don’t include requirements related to locations, props, editing, and so on that can reduce entries and contest buzz significantly.

AdWeek reports that Wildfire is already working to add more features to its YouTube promotional offerings, particularly YouTube’s mobile opportunities. Considering Wildfire has 13,000 paying customers, which includes 30 of the top 50 brands on Interbrand’s 2011 list of the best global brands, you can bet you’ll be seeing a lot more brand video contests on YouTube this year.

Have you tried video contests to promote your brand? Wildfire reports that the 7,000 video contests brands ran on Facebook in 2011 using its tools generated 6.5 million visits. Since video is the heart and soul of YouTube, engagement and results are expected to be even higher for video contests that run directly on YouTube. Will you give it a try for your brand? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Kriss Szkurlatowski

Skechers Launches Creative Rewards Program with a Crowdsourcing Twist

Consumers who purchase Skechers shoes and products are quite vocal about those purchases. As Adweek reports, there are 60,000 product reviews and 32,000 questions and answers published by consumers on the Skechers.com website. In an effort to boost loyalty, build a stronger online community, and increase engagement on the Skechers website, the company launched a new twist to its rewards program that leverages crowdsourcing in a creative way.

Members of the Skechers Elite rewards program can now earn points not just for purchasing Skechers products but also for their activities on the Skechers.com website. For example, members of the rewards program can earn points when they publish product reviews or when they answer questions published on the site by other customers. These points will be added to the rewards points they earn when they make purchases, and points can be redeemed for coupons or used toward future purchases.

The clever part of this rewards program announcement is the use of customers who have already demonstrated their loyalty to Skechers by joining the Skechers Elite program. These people are likely to be brand advocates who will engage with other users and create content for the company. Rather than paying a team of customer service representatives to field questions on the website, other customers can manage some of that burden. By rewarding them for their time and effort, they feel valued. Furthermore, visitors to the Skechers website will see the active community of customers, which will help to add a perception of credibility and brand trust. It’s a win-win-win situation for the Skechers brand and company, loyal customers, and new customers.

Of course, one could argue that by rewarding customers who publish product reviews, you run the risk of being accused of indirectly paying for those reviews. The trick for Skechers is to ensure that there is no perception of dishonesty. Reviewers in the Skechers program whose reviews are most frequently flagged as most helpful will get special badges to add to their user profiles. This could be a step in the wrong direction. In other words, there is a temptation for customers to write a more extreme review in order to get more people to flag that review as helpful. As long as rewards points aren’t tied to the type of review — positive or negative — then the Skechers program should work.

Remember, it’s all about perception. If you try to implement a similar crowdsourcing effort tied to your brand loyalty program, be very careful and monitor customer reviews and conversations closely to make sure no one tries to game the system. It only takes one dishonest review or user to launch a mass of negative publicity.

Image: Clay Irving

Brands, Psychology and Typefaces – Why Fonts Matter

There was a time when the study of typography was a true science and art. Today, anyone can download fonts, make them bold, change the size of characters, and so on within seconds thanks to most software programs. With that comes a hodgepodge of type that doesn’t always accurately reflect a brand’s promise nor does it always work cohesively with the psychological reactions consumers have to it.

With that said, the psychology of type isn’t always given the level of importance it deserves in brand identity work, particularly in web design. Ask yourself, does the font used in your brand identity and your website accurately communicate your brand promise to consumers?

While the answer to that question might be easy enough for you to get, there is more to typography than emotional reactions and the psychological perceptions it conjures. Readability is also essential, and readable typefaces in one medium aren’t always readable in other media. Bottom-line, if your text isn’t easy to read, it doesn’t matter what medium you’re using, who your audience is, or what your message is — you won’t reach your goals.

Research has proven time and again that people can read a simple typeface faster than a highly stylized typeface. Furthermore, the right amount of space between lines of text (i.e., the leading) and the width of blocks of text all play a role in how likely people are to read that text and how easy it is for them to read it. However, research has also shown that a fancy typeface can effectively communicate a brand’s position to consumers. What’s a brand manager to do?

The trick is finding the right combination of typefaces that communicate the brand promise and message without being difficult to read or off-putting to consumers. Your primary brand typeface should be simple and easy to read. Save the fancy typefaces for secondary elements and accents. Research also tells us that using a fancy font sparingly can boost brand and message recall.

Next time you think of just picking out a font you or an executive likes, think twice before you move forward. The art, science, and psychology of type should be considered first.

What do you think? Leave a comment and share your thoughts about brands, psychology, and typefaces.

Image: pdtnc