eMarketer's top 10 predictions from 2009

Courtesy of Marketing Charts:

1. The Internet is a Buyers’ Market
2. Search Marketing Remains Recession-Resistant
3. Video Ad Spending Will Run Counter to Economic Trends
4. Social Network Shakeout
5. New Revenue Streams for Social Networks
6. E-Commerce Sales Growth From Existing Online Buyers
7. Seismic Shift in TV Ad Sales
8. More Newspaper Companies to Become Casualties
9. User-Generated Content Aggregation
10. Multicultural Marketing Will Gain Intensity Online


Notice anything missing?  Don't agree with some of these predictions.  I'm not convinced either.  But considering that these are the predictions from eMarketer, I'm not at all surprised to see such a heavy emphasis on Internet and search marketing prospects. However, my big quibble here is that if TV spending is going to decline and newspaper advertising opportunities will further dwindle, where is all of that money going to go?

I doubt that marketers will simply contract their budgets that much.  And it seems equally doubtful that they'll just plow all of that unspent cash into more online marketing activities, even if you include a massive uptick in spending on online video services.  While it's certainly self-serving of me to think so, it seems totally unrealistic that shopper marketing and OOH (particularly alternative OOH) won't get a boost, since these two sectors continually match or exceed the overall value of Internet advertising.

Tags: advertising, marketing

Notes from the AD:TECH conference

I wasn't able to make it over to San Francisco for this month's AD:TECH conference, which is a series that focuses on all sorts of digital marketing/advertising trends and goes from city to city every month. Fortunately, there's a wealth of quality reviews and commentary on the web, and I thought it might be useful to try and aggregate some of the best bits here (along with the source lists for your perusal, of course).

First up is this blog post by Brian Smith over at ComparisonEngines.com. He took some pretty decent notes during the roundtable/panel discussions on digital out-of-home marketing, which makes for interesting reading. Even without going to the conference (and having been to plenty of similar ones in the past), it was quite easy to get the gist of each person's presentation. Measurement and ROI still apparently rate heavily as topics of interest, and it's always interesting to hear the diverse answers you get about these "hard" subjects.

DMNews comes in next with a summary of the entire show (which of course covered much more than just dOOH and in-store stuff, of course), and starts with a quote from Jeffrey W. Hayzlett, chief development officer and corporate VP at the Eastman Kodak Com­pany, who was also the opening speaker. His note: "The big thing to think about these days is how to align your brand in a digital world." Of course he got into behavioral targeting (online and offline -- scary), as well as mobile and out-of-home stuff. The more I hear about "next-generation" advertising technology, the more I want to constantly look over my shoulder to make sure that nobody is actually following me around :)

Last but not least is the show's own blog, which includes a Flikr-like photo album showing the show floor (featuring vendors you wouldn't normally associate with advertising), and some of the more interesting exhibits. My biggest takeaway from that? These marketing companies have way better schwag than the stuff I saw going around at GlobalShop or DSE.

So there you have it. Was it a show that many in the digital signage community should have gone to? I can't speak for you, but my time was almost certainly better spent elsewhere. There's a lot of cool gear and systems on tap for newfangled advertising and marketing programs, but for the most part (and excluding the conference sessions), I'm guessing that a quick trip around the web would give me more information and a better opportunity for 1:1 followup than spending hours on the show floor. Of course, I also didn't get any of the cool, branded tchotchkes either.

Tags: digital signage, ad:tech, marketing

News from the In-Store Marketing Expo

Promo magazine has some nice coverage of the In-Store Markerting Expo which took place last Wednesday and Thursday in Chicago. Here are a few of the highlights:

Cabco USA, Inc. is rolling out ambitious new shopping cart screens which offer a variety of interactive features. According to the Promo article, "As shoppers move down an aisle, the Mi-Kart detects an advertiser’s product using a trigger placed at the bottom of store shelves and plays an ad on the screen. Users can select from various options on the computer menu to look up product and nutrition information, seek out in-store specials and scan items for prices."

The first thing that came to my mind with this one is the issue of space. The article says the screens will be seven inches big, yet that may be seven inches too much for busy housewives often toting a toddler or two in a cart that's already crammed to the brim. I've seen overly packed shopping carts every single time I've run into a supermarket, and the people that use them always seem to be in some kind of a rush. These are usually the "professional" shoppers who have maximized every square inch of their carts.

The technology seems like it can be genuinely helpful, but Cabco USA, Inc. really needs to consider whether it's going to be seen as unwelcome clutter. They might also want to make sure they've learned from the trials and tribulations of IBM's ill-fated Shopping Buddy, which was a very cool idea, but never really got off the ground.

Meanwhile, also from the Expo it looks like SignStorey Digital Media is finding new ways to integrate multiple productions into brief, informative video clips. According to the article, "SignStorey ran an in-store media campaign for SuperValu promoting its Meal program, which offers free items with purchases of select products. In its most recent promotion, shoppers who bought two Hormel pre-cooked items received Country Crock potatoes and a bag of Fresh Express lettuce for free. The video showed how the three products made for an easy and quick dinner."

This will obviously be appealing to both advertisers and supermarkets themselves, because it has the ability to group related products together and sell them as a bundle. This technique has been proven to increase basket size in the past, and the theory makes sense: if shoppers take notice to a (screen, poster, whatever) that recommends a recipe that seems appealing to them, then they should be more likely to purchase those products together. As always, the issue is how long to make the videos as well as how good their production values are. If the videos look like corny public access TV fare, rather than a slick, fast, easy-to-look-at demos, then they'll probably have trouble catching peoples' attentions.

Last but not least, Home Depot is cutting back on in-store signage because they're concerned that shoppers are being overwhelmed by it. According to Promo, "through consumer insight, Home Depot learned that customers have certain priorities when it comes to viewing signage at its stores. Navigation was No. 1, followed by store specials, how-to advice, branding and in-store promotions, (senior vice president Roger Adams) said."

Just because this is the case for The Home Depot, doesn't make it a universal truth. In-Store marketing is something that has to be adjusted to fit every single shopping experience. Even within a chain of stores, varying levels of in-store ads may work better at some locations than in others. Still, we can learn from Home Depot's example that more is not always better, and the most important thing is to understand how your customers shop your stores -- what they think, how they navigate, and why they make the decisions that they do.

Technorati Tags: in-store, marketing, expo,retail, media,shopper, marketing

Entertainment Execs Move To Out-Of-Home Advertising

Media Post Publications is reporting that major players in the world of entertainment are now accepting top positions with fast rising out-of-home advertising companies. According to the article, "[p]lace-based video is expanding its base. Shortly after the formation of the Out-of-Home Video Advertising Bureau, and the launch of an initiative to create a new measurement currency, some of the nation's biggest place-based video networks are bulking up their ad sales forces.... One key move: hiring senior executives away from TV and big ad agencies."

Among the major hires the article lists is David Goldstein, who was formerly an executive at Walt Disney Pictures and MGM/UA. Goldstein will handle all film, television, home video, video game and music advertising for Premiere Retail Networks (who operates Wal-Mart TV and numerous other retail networks).

This is a good development for the out-of-home advertising market, as it bolsters not only the prestige and experience of its major execs, but also strengthens its link with above-the-line media and advertising outlets.

New York City-sized OOH advertising campaigns continue moving further out into the rest of the world trying to command viewer attention, whether on the road or at the mall. The decision by major execs in other industries is a big admission that media consuming habits are becoming splintered, and that traditional ways of reaching viewers no longer work on their own.

Most importantly (and hopefully), the more powerful creative types that join the OOH ad industry, the better our content will inevitably be. This should mean less spam, and more quality spots, which should also lead to a greater acceptance by the general public. By adding more and more OOH ads in places like corporate building elevators and even golf carts, the industry runs the risk of irritating viewers due to over exposure. But if the ads are done with the proper amount of creativity and regard for what exactly is going to capture the attention of audiences, that risk is significantly reduced.

The addition of greater creative talent will also bolster the visual impact that OOH media has. This means there'll soon be an end to content that looks like it was shot at night on your college roommate's camcorder, and the standardization around high-end digital HD content featuring well-scripted and edited shots. It could even open the gates for more powerful celebrity endorsements and featurettes. If the money and the pedigree is there, the big name celebs will soon follow. Stay tuned.

Tags: out-of-home advertising, OOH, marketing