Digital CPG Blog

I’ve been talking to several bloggers and changemakers about video lately and most seem hesitant about it. Most even come back with, “I don’t watch any video online.”

Really? I seriously doubt that. Instead, I think watching video online is so natural to a lot of us that we don’t even notice we’re doing it. When I asked one marketer to pay attention to how often he clicks play, he admitted that he watches many more videos than he originally thought.

The rest of us are doing the same.

New figures released by Unruly Media show that online video sharing has doubled in volume in the past nine months, reports Chris Lake.

And they must be good videos too, because the firm, which runs the Viral Video Chart, measured sharing activity across Facebook, Twitter and blogs and found that sharing has increased by more than 86% since May 2010. Most of that sharing is done on (surprise!) Facebook. The Facebook platform lets you play video links directly on Facebook, which is no doubt a reason why the trend has picked up so much in this area.

Video content used to be expensive to produce, but now consumers and viewers don’t need anything fancy (and it just might hurt you if it is). So, if your brand has included a video content strategy into your marketing plans, what’s stopping you?

Where will advertising be in 4 years? Take a look at Google’s fascinating predictions:

1) 50% of online ads will have video in them and be bought on a cost-per-view basis. Today, 24 hours of video content are uploaded to YouTube each minute. Google Tuesday officially launched two YouTube video formats, TrueView, based on a cost-per-view advertising model after dabbling in it for nearly a year. This means advertisers only pay when consumers chose to watch the advertisement. TrueView will roll out later this year.

2) 50% of all display advertising targeted to a specific audience will rely on real-time bidding.

3) Mobile will become the No. 1 screen for advertising. The mobile screen will become the first screen that consumers go to on a variety of mobile devices.

4) Five new metrics will emerge to measure the success of ad campaigns. They will become more successful and important. Some exist already: engagement and interaction rates in rich media, video view, and impact on Web search results. Others might include sentiment analysis to measure the viral influence and the tone of consumer chatter about the brand across the Internet. Or, measure foot traffic into the store through geo-based technology.

5) 75% of ads will become socially enabled. In the long term, all ads will become social as the industry moves to an always-on communication.

6) 50% of brand campaigns will run rich media in the ads, up from 6% during the last year.

7) Display advertising will become a $50 billion industry. Google advertisers have increased the amount they spend annually with the technology company about 75% during the last year.

(via Collaborative Blog).

Now when you or your friends like a brand on Facebook, it will show up twice – once in the news feed and once again in a new special sponsored section.

“For example, if Starbucks buys a ‘sponsored story’ ad,” Ad Age reports, “the status of a user’s friends who check into or ‘like’ Starbucks will run twice: once in the user’s news feed, and again as a paid ad for Starbucks. Though clearly marked with the words ‘sponsored story,’ the ad — which will includes a user’s name, just like the news feed — is not optional for Facebook users.”

“The product itself is broken into four possible buys for advertisers — page likes and check-ins, and actions Facebook is calling ‘application play’ and ‘page posts.’”

“A ‘page post’ is when an advertiser posts something and it wants to get more distribution, so it can buy a sponsored story to further distribute that post — in the news feed and on the right-hand side of the home page.”

Would you be willing to try this kind of advertising? There is some user risk involved, but all in all seems like a win to me.

AdAge reports that “ad spending is on the right, but growth may be slow.” More fascinating in my opinion is that internet has passed all magazines and will also surpass print media by 2014. Internet advertising is still behind broadcast; when do you predict the internet will surpass television? Will it ever or will both mediums still be relevant?

As video moves more and more online, will this be the kicker that shifts it all?

You may not need to pay your trendy ad agency any longer. It turns out witty ads, although they are often popular, do not often translate to commercial success.

The old adage that popularity doesn’t equal success, AdAge reports, might just be true. “Effectiveness is a much different measure than “likability,” which Target’s holiday campaign featuring comedian Maria Bamford was reported to have achieved in spades this holiday season. Interestingly, despite the fun and likability of the Target ads, the creative was far less effective than many other holiday ads and failed to even make it into Ace Metrix’ top 10 most effective holiday ads list.”

“Philanthropic ads for major brands continue to show strong advertising value,” the articles continue. “Consumers respond better to a message about what companies are doing for them, instead of a straight sales pitch.”

“Nine times out of 10, funny ads win the popularity contests, but ‘likability’ is only one dimension of an ad’s overall effectiveness. Just because an ad is funny or popular doesn’t mean it is effective at driving consumer behavior.”

New research shows that “the number of digital coupon events increased by 59.9 percent for the year ending Sept. 30,” and “267 manufacturers distributed digital coupon offers, an increase of 23 percent compared to the 217 manufacturers that were active in 2009 across key websites.”

As consumers habits change, so too is the couponing industry. “Digital coupons are becoming a core component within the overall promotion mix for consumer packaged-goods manufacturers,” said Mark Nesbitt, president of Kantar Media.

“Digital coupon events on retailer websites are becoming an attractive opportunity for manufacturers to align with their strategic retail partners in order to drive shopping trips and increase sales,” said Bob Cristofono, Marx VP of sales.

Coupons becoming digital is only the start of how manufacturers can use this great marketing opportunity. Can you think of other creative ways to extend digital coupon offers?

Retailers are finding their customers on Facebook… and a lot of them.

In a recent study, the results “speak to the power of Facebook: The retailers surveyed by Media Logic with 1 million or more likers averaged nearly 40 percent growth between mid-July and mid-September.”

Other key findings included:

- Blogs, microsites, commerce sites and stores are all being swept up and into the social revolution. Retailers are connecting their online and real-world properties into what are effectively media networks owned and operated by the brands.

– Promotions in the form of social games and contests, hosted both within Facebook and on microsites, are drawing huge numbers of participants and, thus far, tireless engagement. Fans and followers must now be considered significant cooperative marketing partners as they remarket the brand messages.

“S. C. Johnson wants to step up its ‘green’ game with advertising intended to convey to consumers a commitment to disclose the ingredients of its familiar household cleaning products, like Glade, Pledge and Windex,” reports the New York Times.

The ads got underway over Thanksgiving on major network and cable channels and are poised to come online, appearing on Web sites like cnn.com, marthastewart.com, msn.com, people.com and yahoo.com since S.C. Johnson is devoted to additional resources toward online advertising.

“It’s much more holistic than just television,” Mr. Johnson said in a phone interview, with “more digital engagement than we’ve typically done.”

Transparency in product ingredients is an important facet for consumers, and letting them know through online efforts can only help to add to a grassroots authentic feeling of communication. How is your brand increasing it’s transparency to the customer?

Photo Credit: James Vaughan.

Mom is shopping for just about everybody this holiday season, but it’s not always easy figuring out what to buy. Brands “should note that this gift idea quandary is solved by websites and blogs, with 71% of Moms relying on websites and 62% using blogs to find the “perfect” gift. If your product or brand is unique and fits the “in-laws” demographic, reach out to top bloggers and websites with a sample of your product. Many bloggers publish gift guides or suggested gift lists. Remember to seek out bloggers who have a popular social media presence, as almost 70% of Moms will look for product reviews on Facebook or LinkedIn,” reports BSM Media.

Other key findings;

- A whopping 90% of Moms have not started shopping for holiday gifts, or have only picked up a few things. Almost 40% indicated that they would shop after Halloween and on Black Friday, which means there is still time to place ads, recruit bloggers for product reviews or schedule a Twitter party.

- An overwhelming majority of moms in our survey are planning to buy online. An even 66% of Moms surveyed said they plan on purchasing more than half of their gift items through online retailers, with Amazon and eBay leading the list.

- Presents aren’t the only items on Mom’s Holiday Shopping List. Don’t forget the holiday dinners, office parties and get-togethers. Food retailers should take note that the majority of Moms will try a new product when offered a coupon. Fifty-six percent of Moms would “always” try a new product with a coupon and 40.9% would “sometimes” try a new product when enticed with a coupon.

Is your brand approaching moms this holiday season?

According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Pricewaterhouse Coopers, internet advertising is showing strong returns:

Revenue for the first half of 2010 was $12.1 billion, an 11.3 percent increase over the same period last year. That represents the highest revenue for the first half of a year since the bureau began releasing figures in 1996. Revenue for the second quarter of 2010, which accounted for $6.2 billion, was also the highest on record.

“Interactive media are starting to show substantial growth and great vitality in making money,” said Sherrill Mane, senior vice president for industry services at the IAB, during a news conference about the results this morning.

The strongest advertising sectors included search advertising, which accounted for 47 percent of year-to-date revenues, followed by display-related advertising at 36 percent and classified at 10 percent. Lead generation and e-mail were the weakest sectors, generating 5 percent and 1 percent of revenue, respectively.

Where do you see the most return in online advertising?