IMKTG REPORT January 21 2002

OPPORTUNITIES, MONDAY, JANUARY 21ST, 2002

Good Morning Execs,

it's MLK JR. day. what does it mean
to me? what does it mean to anyone?
kids have no school. gov workers are off.
and if your company is trying to prove they
respect diversity, you're off. it's like the
black people's new year. but does rallying
behind a civil rights advocate that just
happens to have been af.am. really help
your brand attract the af.am. consumer?
i think, no. as far as the average af.am.
is concerned, it's just another day off that
they didn't have to request as a p-day.
Washington, Lincoln, and even Jesus's
birthdays are all just more reasons to put
products on sale to drive people into stores
on their days off and that's about as far
as the avg consumer looks. if it wasn't for
the efforts of Rev. Jackson & big Al Sharpton
constantly trying to inform & educate about
the civil liberties of other af.ams, even af.ams
wouldn't care. last week, two students
shot @ MLK H.S. in NY. both black.
all across america, wherever there is a
large aggregation of african americans,
you'll find an avenue named after MLK,
and that's where you'll usually find the
most violence. support of the af.am con-
sumer shouldn't be relegated to just one day,
but a perpetual year round program, the
same way non-af.am consumers are
supported everyday. and as i argued
in the ROUNDTABLE section of OPPOR-
TUNITIES, for Monday, December 17th,
why even bother targeting af.ams differently
than non-african americans? after all, if
irish, italians, and jewish people are all
targeted as "white", even though they have
different cultures, then why segment at all?
my goal is to bring up important marketing
concepts and offer different analysis to
help you develop better strategies. my goal
here is once again highlight the problem with
how many marketers practice marketing, no-
thing more. so, happy MLK day.

CONTENTS:
1. MEDIA: upfront online market changes everything
2. STRATEGY: obituaries, next profit center
3. LATINO: new national broadcaster
4. TEENS: teens don't watch the news, right?
5. TRENDS: email ads; direct marketing's new role; where the "weak ad market" came from?
6. THE WEEK: wrap up of last week

::::: ::::: ::::: ::::: al berrios media ::::: ::::: ::::: :::::

1. MEDIA: i wish i had the resources of large
publishers. this week, i'm thinking, why isn't
online media sold like TV, with an upfront
market, to lock in prices, and sure enough,
that's one of the big stories this week as Yahoo!
becomes the first to sign a deal with Arnold MPG,
a media buying firm, that allows them to lock in
good prices and added value at the beginning of
a year or season for the entire year or season
on behalf of Arnold's (very big) advertisers.
Yahoo begins it's efforts to stabilize it's finances,
advertisers save money, and the doors are
now open for other online media companies
to do the same.

BOTTOM LINE: by getting those upfront long
terms deals with your advertisers, you can whether
any downturn, increase legitimacy of the medium,
and start your way to getting advertisers to bid
for your space. as things unfold, i'll keep you posted,
but suffice it to say, i think this is the start of a very
significant and fundamental change in the business
of selling online ad media space.

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::::: ::::: ::::: ::::: al berrios strategy ::::: ::::: ::::: :::::

2. STRATEGY: obituaries, next revenue source
or sacred community builder? well, it seems
it's only good for one thing, making money, b/c
as of last year, there's been a rise in the use
of this dedicated section by newspapers as a
profit center, & believe it or not, readers are
still unawares.

BOTTOM LINE: obituaries.com? well, don't
get your hopes up just yet. it's already taken,
along with obituaries.net. but neither have ads.
if the funeral business can become a chain funeral
home operation with 3000 parlors in operation,
why can't obituaries be a growth business? after
all, how many prominent local, regional, and na-
tional figures aren't passing away these days w/
boomers approaching that critical age? even
Wendy's founder Dave Thomas ate his last
burger three weeks ago. i know, i know, this
ain't exactly the sort of subject that makes you
jump up and down with excitement of a new
strategy for your website, however, i cater to
making money, not making friends. somehow,
making money for people turns them into friends
anyway.

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::::: ::::: ::::: ::::: al berrios latino::::: ::::: ::::: :::::

3. LATINO: Telemundo, owner of Galavision,
and the largest television broadcaster of hispanic
programming announced wednesday that it's
launching new network, TeleFutura aimed
at drawing younger male spanish speaking
viewers.

BOTTOM LINE: invest in Latinos. they
are growing faster than you think.

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::::: ::::: ::::: ::::: al berrios teen ::::: ::::: ::::: :::::

4. TEEN: as one of the most coveted demos,
even nightly network news is trying to attract
them. but how can they with the geriatric club
firmly in charge of telling the world what's news?
(that and w/the internet taking away so many
potential viewers, it's no wonder news sucks).
in a move to change that and attract more
younger viewers, CBS is making some aggressive
moves, hiring away MTV anchors, using "younger"
music in promo shoots & taking over UPN, BET
news productions.

BOTTOM LINE: in the TEENMARKETING
section of OPPORTUNITIES for Monday,
December 17th, 2001, i analyzed goosehead
and bolt. both teen marketers that do fairly
good jobs at attracting teens. but my argument
for advertisers was, who would you go to for
guidance into this demo, goosehead, founded
and maintained by a entrepreneurial 17 year
old girl, or bolt, founded and maintained by
entrepreneurial old bureaucrats? CBS & you
may be trying to attract a younger audience,
but when it comes to understanding a teenager,
your best bet is simply to hire one to produce
your content. take a cue from the arbiter
of today's teen mind-set, the parent of MTV &
CBS, Viacom. advertisers do care who's doing
it since they're always looking for authentic
ways of connecting their audience.

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::::: ::::: ::::: ::::: al berrios trends ::::: ::::: ::::: :::::

5. TRENDS: how is in-email advertising
supposed to be effective for advertisers
if the email provider is also blasting ads
at the email owner? good question and
one you should consider when blowing
your whole wad only on email marketing.
it's a b!tch to set up, create, and send,
and now, some email provider is also
mooching off your audience, making the
subsidization by advertisers less valuable.
in addition, email spammers are now
sending junk mail as though it was the
recipient sending it, causing the recipient
to not think twice about opening this
message. effective? no, since this blatant
trickery will leave recipients with a very
bad experience with your brand. remem-
ber, if you lie to them to get their attention,
they'll never trust you; direct marketing
seems to be the solution ad agencies,
online and off, are offering to improve
finances. it seems that these companies
are hiring people that actually understand
marketing concepts enough to create
separate divisions dedicated to branding,
direct, promotions, and advertising online.
'bout time; last week, al berrios integrated
sales launched in what many call a "weak
ad market". i've always thought that this
"weak ad market" was nothing more than
b!tchin' from large companies that are
accustomed to making lots of cash, and
perpetuated by retarded reporters that
aren't really marketing experts, just out
of work freelance writers. and it seems
that the rest of the NY ad industry pros
feel the same, as eloquently expressed by
one of the most straight-forward writers
i've ever read, the adbumb.com. his insights
into the industry are so, um, insightful,
you should subscribe: adbumb.com.

BOTTOM LINE: when conducting an
email campaign, make sure you are
managing your lists wisely. don't send
too many emails from "preferred partners"
and when you do, make sure everything
from subject line, to "from" field, to
actual body are very well written and
thought out to get maximum attention;
direct marketing isn't for every brand,
but it does yield more immediate results
than branding. more and more clients
need that immediate result, but what
you'll notice is that, just like the only
cab in a snow storm, direct marketers
will gauge you; al berrios integrated
sales was created on the premise
that the people currently selling ads
have got it all wrong. if so, then this
"weak ad market" shouldn't matter,
because advertisers always acknow-
ledge when there's something better
that's good for them. long live capitalism.

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::::: ::::: ::::: ::::: al berrios theweek ::::: ::::: ::::: :::::

6. THEWEEK: Talk Mag shuts down;
Fingerhut shuts down; AOL's new horizon
to conquer is regional, as they take travel
planning/booking away from local travel
agents; hotel brokerage seems to be huge
these days, from Starwood selling their
premium luxury brands, to investment banks
opening funds to buy 'em up, everyone's
getting into the act now when prices are
rock bottom; recession is over, Oprah's
ratings decline after 15 years; IAB releases
new guidelines on how to measure web
traffic based on 6-month study from PwC
in an effort to get content pubs and adver-
tisers all on the same page; first classmates.com
and now convictsreunited.com, proving
once again that the internet is more about
connecting to other people more than buying
stuff.

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::::: ::::: ::::: ::::: al berrios iMarketing ::::: ::::: ::::: :::::

Disclaimer: The recommendations, commentary and opinions published herein are based on public information sometimes referenced via hyperlinks. Any similarities or likeness to any ideas or commentary from any other sources not referenced is purely coincidental. al berrios & co. cannot control any results occurring from advice obtained from this publication nor any opinion(s) conveyed by any reader of this publication.

(c) 2001-2005. All Rights Reserved. al berrios & company, inc. Published by al berrios & co. This Report may not be reproduced or redistributed in any form without written permission from al berrios & co., subject to penalty.

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