Nielsen Online recently reached the conclusion that women are twice as likely to watch Network TV as men. Men 18-34, on the other hand, are more than twice more likely to watch user-created content on the Web, such as stuff found on YouTube. The article says it’s because men have a sense of humor, or something like that… I will let you read the article and see if you read it the same way as I did :).

Anyway, this is really important. In advertising, you want to know who your target audience is and where their eye-balls are going. This is a good first step in understanding Web video viewing habits, but we still have a long way to go before the market is fully segmented and understood.

More on this as it becomes available.

Labels: marketing, Online Advertising, online video

It’s the holiday season, and spam is at an all time high. I normally delete most of the spam that makes it into my inbox, but for some reason, I decided to click on one of many J. Crew promo emails. And I was astonished by what I found.

Labels: information architecture, marketing, spam, usability

For years now we have seen ads and product placements in video games. And it makes sense too, gamers spend more time playing games than watching TV. This market space is projected to grow to over a billion by 2010. Sony recognizes the potential and it is opening up a division dedicated solely to selling ads on PlayStation games. This aligns well with Microsoft’s recent affinity towards becoming a media channel.

The latest trend was sparked-off by Burger King last year when they developed and sold a series of Xbox games featuring the BK mascot. They grossed about $14 million on this adventure. Toyota recently got on the “Advertgame” bandwagon and released free Toyota Yaris videogame for download.

The advertising landscape continues to change. This is just another example in many. The three things that remain consistent are repetition, integration, and targeting of message across several channels and outlets. For example, BK ran TV ads in conjunction with the videogame release, and Toyota is showing up to music festivals and comic book conventions to pound and reinforce their messages.

Read the full Washington Post article that sparked this post.

Labels: advertising, marketing, Microsoft, Sony, video games, xbox

There is no recipe for originality or authenticity, but there are some pointers on how to find it.

Bill Breen's great article for Fast Company hits on a number of smart points that are worth further commentary.

The essence of authenticity, he claims, are in the following points:

• A sense of place
• A strong point of view
• Serving a larger purpose
• Integrity
  

There is a unifying theme here: an authentic brand is not a brand that manufactures something that you didn't have before and then sells it to you. Instead a brand is authentic because it encourages the creation of authentic moments in its customers, it is the backdrop for your authentic experiences. Apple doesn't give you authentic injection molded plastic music players, it gives you a music player you can enjoy your favorite music on, a backdrop to the authentic enjoyment you receive.

This final quote helps explain this further:

"Sometimes even the most homogenized of places can evoke a flicker of authenticity. The morning after last fall's congressional elections, the newly elected senator from New Jersey, Robert Menendez, breakfasted at his usual spot, the International House of Pancakes in Union City. Menendez, formerly mayor of Union City, sat in his regular booth, ordered the same breakfast he always orders, and spent an hour catching up with longtime friends.

Few restaurants are more prefab than IHOP, yet there Menendez was, paying homage to a staff that knew his breakfast by heart and to patrons who've watched his kids grow up. On the surface, the Union City franchise is hardly authentic--it's similar to the IHOP in, say, Muncie, Indiana. But the friendships that Menendez has made there are certainly genuine. It's not that Starbucks, Cold Stone Creamery, BMW, Nike, or any other brand is really, really real. What's real are the experiences and the connections that the brands allow us to make--if they give us an honest chance."

A quick look at some authenticity plays from fast company.

Labels: Apple, authenticity, Branding, IHOP, marketing

Executive design recruiter, RitaSue Siegel, offers her perspectives to assess whether or not a company is commited to design strategically.

Basically she asks whether a company's leadership values design as an independant business area - distinct from marketing - and whether the design leadership can see eye to eye wiht the ceo.

Her example is Nissan, and the entire video is well worth seeing just for that point alone. The design executive she brought to Nissan Motor Company changed what TIME magazine had called a “debt-ridden basket case” into a profitable global car company with 22 models in the pipeline—in a mere 18 months.

Her side comment at the end, where she says "Don't Get an MBA" is yet another voice added to the chorus.

http://www.ritasue.com/video_popup_med.html

Labels: Design, marketing, mba, nissan